Gunmen have abducted a traditional ruler in Kogi, a family source said in Lokoja on Sunday.
In the first kidnapping of 2017,the monarch, the Ohi of Ajaokuta, whose name was given Isah Achuja, was returning from Lokoja, the state capital, on Saturday when his vehicle was intercepted on the Lokoja-Ajaokuta road at gunpoint and the ruler was removed to an unknown location.
A member of the royal family, who did not want his name in print, told journalists that an aide to the traditional ruler and his driver narrowly escaped being hit by the bullets of the abductors.
He said the abductors had already contacted the family and demanded a N20 million ransom.
Contacted by the News Agency of Nigeria, the State Police Command’s spokesman, Williams Aya, said the incident had not been reported to the command.
He, however, promised that police would swing into action in a bid to rescue the monarch as soon as the details of the abduction were available.
Kidnapping for ransoms is very common across Nigeria with public figures and their families being regular targets. Family members of former president Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and of ex-finance minister Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala have all been kidnapped in the past, as has been one-time presidential aspirant Chief Olu Falae.
(NAN)