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Gunmen kidnap about 15 residents in Enugu community

Gunmen masquerading as herdsmen have allegedly abducted no fewer than 15 residents of Mgbuji Eha-Amufu Community in the Isi-Uzo Local Government Area of Enugu State on Monday.

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The victims were reportedly kidnapped at about 7:00am along Mgbuji-Agu road within Mgbuji town while they were going to their farms.

A resident of the community, who identified himself simply as Onyekachi Odo, told The PUNCH that some of the villagers, who were going to their farms with tricycles, were intercepted by gun-wielding terrorists numbering over 20, and abducted the victims to an unknown destination.

Odo said, “Some of the victims, according to information reaching us, were picked on their farms.”

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Spokesman for Mgbuji Community, Chijioke Ogbodo, confirmed the abduction on Monday. He decried the constant attack and abduction in the community by terrorists “while we have security agencies there doing nothing.

“Since they (Fulani militias) started attacking our community, neither the police nor the military had arrested any of the terrorists.

“We received the information on the attack this morning. We called all the security agents deployed to Eha-Amufu, but unfortunately they didn’t respond to our distress calls. This is our tragedy.”

He, however, called on the state government to do something immediately to rescue the victims, whom he said, their only offence was going to their farms to get what they would eat.

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Earlier gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen in police and military uniforms had, on July 5, kidnapped seven residents of the same community and shot three others.

Mgbuji and other neighbouring communities in Eha-Amufu have been under several attacks from September 2021 till date. Many people have been killed, hundreds of houses and properties worth millions of naira have been destroyed. So many others have equally been kidnapped for ransom.

Efforts to get reaction of the Enugu State Police Command were not successful as its spokesman DSP Daniel Ndukwe, could not pick his calls and had yet to respond text messages as of the time of filing this report.

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(Punch)