Gunmen attack buses on Abuja-Lokoja expressway, kidnap travellers

Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers opened fire on two commercial buses and abducted scores of passengers near Ochonyi village along the Abuja-Lokoja highway, per DailyTrust report.

Shedrack Jonathan, one of the bus passengers who managed to flee while being led into the woods, claimed to have boarded the bus at Jabi in Abuja on its way to Enugu, where they ran into the gunmen.

According to him, the event occurred last Thursday at 7:33 p.m. after Omoko village as they were descending a sloppy section of the road. He added that they had begun to hear gunfire when the bus abruptly veered off the road and into the jungle.

He continued, saying that a short while later, some individuals brandishing firearms came out of the forest, demanded that they exit the bus, and led them into the jungle.

He claimed that he was able to get away from the roadway after approximately a kilometre and that he emerged at the nearby Aseni settlement.

“At Aseni village, some vigilantes saw me, and I narrated what happened, and they mobilized to the scene,” he said.

A local vigilante, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, verified the kidnapping of people from the two buses.

He claimed that the shooters emerged from the jungle and shot the tyres of the two buses, forcing the drivers to come to a halt.

“Before we arrived, the gunmen had fled with the victims, leaving the buses by the road,” he added.

He said the vigilantes were still combing the forest to trail the gunmen and rescue the abducted victims unhurt.