Kogi State Chairman of the Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria (MACBAN), Alhaji Wakili Damina, has been abducted in his house at Chikara village in Kogi Local Government Area of the state.
According to the state Secretary of MACBAN, Adamu Abubakar, he was kidnapped on April 30 by gunmen dressed in army camouflage. Speaking on the issue on Tuesday, Abubakar said the abductors, numbering about eight, came in a white bus around 12noon to “forcefully” take away the chairman from his house at Chikara village.
Abubakar said he was informed of the incident by the younger brother of Damina, who claimed he witnessed the incident. He also stated that he immediately called the phone number of the kidnapped chairman, but there was no response.
According to him, the chairman’s number was switched off when he repeated the call about an hour later.
“Since then, his lines are not reachable and all efforts to know his whereabouts proved abortive,” he said. Abubakar said he immediately notified the state police boss of the development, adding that the state government was also informed through the Special Adviser on Security Matters to the governor, Jerry Omodara.
The secretary said he and some members of the association visited the Nigeria Police Force headquarters, Abuja, to know if Damina was in their custody but they said no. He also said that a search party raised by MACBAN had visited other places, including abattoirs around Abuja without finding him.
Meanwhile, the Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Ede Ayuba, said the police were yet to spot the whereabouts of the chairman. The commissioner said that immediately he was informed of the incident, he called Damina’s phone but there was no response.
Ayuba said efforts to get details about the incident from the Divisional Police Officer in charge of the area where the incident happened were unsuccessful as the matter had not been officially reported to him.
