The youth wing of Ohanaeze Ndigbo has claimed that about 300 Igbo traders have been kidnapped in the northern part of the country.
National youth leader of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, Chief Arthur Obiora, while speaking with newsmen in Enugu on the security challenge faced by Nigerians, noted that kidnappers on Kaduna State roads recently abducted passengers, who are mostly Igbo traders, in luxury buses.
He noted that the ugly development took place in the area despite security presence on the roads, adding that the kidnap gang continued to operate freely and moving hundreds of people from the luxury buses to the bushes.
“On January 14, kidnappers in military camouflage within Kaduna-Kachi axis by NNPC Road forcefully stopped a loaded luxury bus belonging to Ezenwata Transport and used it to stop another belonging to GUO Transport and some other smaller vehicles.
“These passengers numbering over 120, who are mostly Igbo traders, were abducted and taken into the bush. The incident was reported to the police.
“The owner of the Ezenwata Transport bus had retrieved it and parked it at the nearest police station to the scene of the incident due to the personal belongings of the traders in that bus. But till today, no one has heard any development concerning that incident and the individuals abducted in that particular incident,” he said.
Relating a similar incident that happened on Monday, January 27 within the same NNPC Road, few kilometres away from the point of the former incident, he said kidnappers abducted passengers in three luxury buses and few small vehicles coming from Sokoto to Onitsha.
“This time around, it was GUO Transport, Ezenwata Transport, and Young Shall Grow Transport luxury buses that are under the Luxury Buses Owners Association.
It involved over 200 people, mostly Igbo traders. As we speak, we have not heard anything about them also.’
“It is clear we cannot continue to forge ahead as a nation when some criminals are already deploying tactics to eliminate Igbo traders or inflict fear on our people to end the age-long beneficial trade between northern traders and their counterparts from the East,” he stated.
The youth leader urged the federal and Kaduna governments to rise to the challenge of insecurity on major roads in Kaduna.
He stressed the need for the Federal Government to re-strategise on security within major roads and forest areas in Kaduna and other northern states.
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