We’re kidnappers target in Benue, Igbo residents cry out

Igbo residents have decried the alarming rate of kidnapping in the state, saying that they are always targets of kidnappers in Benue State.

Speaking under the umbrella of Igbo Union in Benue State, the Igbo residents raised the alarm that they were still being kidnapped for ransom in the state.

They lamented that despite security measures being put in place by the State Governor, Samuel Ortom, their lives and property have continued to be in danger.

The Public Relations Officer, Mr Emmanuel Ezeadi, on Monday, said the Union appreciated Governor Ortom for promptly responding to the clarion call made by the union recently, in which it alerted the nation that Igbos in Benue State have become endangered.

According to Vanguard, while giving a breakdown of huge financial losses so far incurred by the Igbo communities in Benue State especially in Gboko, Adikpo-Kwande, Ukum Zaki-Biam and Katsina-Ala LGAs of the State, Ezeadi, noted that since February 2017 till date, there have been 48 recorded cases of abduction of Igbo businessmen and women across the aforementioned LGAs with a total ransom of over N277million paid out to these abductors with some of the victims murdered even after the demanded ransom had been paid.

Ezeadi, pointed out that the Benue State Government has initiated several measures to check the menace of kidnappers and Fulani herdsmen in the State but the kidnappers have devised other means of terrorizing the Igbo communities by using anonymous threat calls, unsolicited nocturnal visits by hooded local gangs demanding instant payment of “protection fees” at gun points, among others.

The spokesperson called on both the Benue and Federal Governments to increase its security surveillance around areas dominated by non-indigenes especially Igbo businessmen and women to forestall incidences of kidnapping and barefaced extortion.