‘Corps member’ among 6 kidnapped as gunmen attack Enugu community

Gunmen have kidnapped six persons in the Ikem community, Isi-Uzo LGA of Enugu state.

It is understood that the community and other parts of the LGA have been under attack from ravaging gunmen.

Emeka Odoh, chairman of the federated Ikem improvement union, Enugu branch, said the gunmen laid siege to Ikem-Isioroto along Obollo Afor – Nkalagu for about three days.

The development, he said, made many residents of the area flee into the bush.

Odoh also narrated his experience with the gunmen on Monday shortly after an emergency meeting convened to find a solution to the situation ahead of next month’s elections.

“As we drove out of the meeting venue, we found four gunmen on the main road brandishing guns. I was driving and instinctively reversed the car and behold there was another set of four gunmen behind us,” PUNCH quoted him as saying.

“The gunmen opened fire on us, shattering all the windscreens and the four tires, but I drove through the hail of bullets with flat tires to safety.

“One of us was badly hit by the bullets and was immediately rushed to Enugu where eight bullets were extracted from his body by surgeons. He is still recuperating at the intensive care unit of the hospital”.

It was gathered that the gunmen kidnapped two commercial motorcycle riders and left through a bush route near Benue state.

The villagers were also quoted as saying that the gunmen returned on Tuesday and kidnapped a native who was home and a member of the NSYC who is his tenant.

“Thursday night, the gunmen returned for the third time, this time at night, kidnapped three more people and shot one person who confronted them,” the news outlet quoted the villagers to have said.

They said the gunmen are yet to make any ransom demand.

Daniel Ndukwe, the state police spokesperson, did not respond to calls and text messages sent to him on the matter as of the time of this report.