Rescued kidnapped boy gets scholarship in Benue
Gunmen, yesterday, kidnapped the Commissioner for Information and Strategy in Niger State, Mohammed Idris.
Mary Noel-Berje, Chief Press Secretary to Governor Abubakar Sani Bello, said Idris was kidnapped about 1:00 a.m. in the early hours of Monday from his home at Baban Tunga village in Tafa Local Government of the state.
According to the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Ahmed Matane, the gunmen came on about 15 motorcycles with sophisticated weapons and abducted Idris about during a downpour in the area. He said the kidnappers had not contacted the family.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Wasiu Abiodun, confirmed the incident.
Similarly, a pastor and his wife were among eight others kidnapped in two separate incidents at the weekend in Kwara South Senatorial District of Kwara State.
The two cases were recorded on the Oke Onigbin/Omuaran and Ekiti/Ekan Meje roads of the state.
But men of the state police command led other security operatives to go after the suspected kidnappers and in the process, rescued four of them, leaving out the cleric couple and an unidentified person.
According to the police spokesman in Kwara, Superintendent Ajayi Okasanmi, efforts had been intensified to ensure prompt rescue of the five persons still being held captive by their abductors.
Okasanmi added that some suspects had been arrested by operatives of the combined anti-kidnapping security outfits in the state.
Meanwhile, a four-year-old boy, identified as Ejeh Moses, kidnapped during a communal clash between Ochoro and Bonta people in Konshisha Local Government Area of Benue State about two weeks ago, has been rescued.
However, no detail was given on how he was rescued, but Governor Samuel Ortom had, on getting wind of the abduction two weeks ago, gave a marching order to elders of Konshisha Local Government to ensure immediate rescue of the boy.
Consequently, stakeholders from the council, led by the chairman, James Jirgba, on Sunday, presented the rescued boy to Governor Ortom.
On receiving the boy at the Benue State Government House, Makurdi, Ortom offered a scholarship to the boy to study from nursery school to the university level.
The governor directed the state Commissioner for Education, Professor Dennis Ityavyar, to process the scholarship with immediate effect, stating that the boy is a miracle child, having been kidnapped and released unhurt.
