A yet-to-be identified gunmen have kidnapped the Chief Priest of Ala Owerri, in Owerri Municipal Council, Mr Reginald Ejiogu.
The incident happened at Church Christ road by Ihugba street in Owerri.
He was said to have been kidnapped alongside a village chairman of Umunwagbara in Owerri Municipal counci
Militants from the Islamic State-backed faction of Boko Haram, the Islamic State West Africa Province (ISWAP), formerly known as Jamā’at Ahl as-Sunnah lid-Da’wah wa’l-Jihād have mounted roadblocks in some parts of Borno State.
Areas, where the checkpoints were mounted by the terror group, include “Mararaban Kimba, Ammo Bulin, Wajiroko, Gada, and Sabon Gari, all located along Damboa/Biu Road,” one of the sources said.
Sources said the insurgents have been checking on travellers IDs to fish out security operatives travelling in mufti, which is daring considering how much effort the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari said it had put into ensuring security in the North-East.
ISWAP, which split from the mainstream Boko Haram in 2016, has become a dominant group, focusing on military targets and high-profile attacks, including against aid workers.
Since the death of JAS leader, Abubakar Shekau, the group has been consolidating its grip in locations around Lake Chad.
Just recently, it appointed Wali Sani Shuwaram, a 45-year-old as the new Leader (Wali) of ISWAP in Lake Chad.
The sect’s membership has swollen with the defection of hundreds of Boko Haram fighters under Shekau.
The Nigerian army has repeatedly claimed that insurgency had been largely defeated and frequently underplays any losses.
In the past months, soldiers have been targeted by the insurgents, who lay ambush on their path.
Hundreds of soldiers and officers have been reportedly killed since January 2021.
One Habibu of Sayen Lemu in Dutsen Abba of Zaria local government area, Kaduna State has been killed by bandits and three of his children kidnapped.
Sayen Lemu is a village close to Nuhu Bamalli Polytechnic, Zaria and also not far away from where the bandits operated on Monday along the Kaduna-Zaria highway.
A source said that the bandits stormed the house of the deceased around 11pm on Wednesday night and shot him (Alhaji Habibu) dead before abducting his children.
“We don’t think they were hired killers. We believed they are part of the bandits terrorizing the area in the recent past.”
Our source explained that the area has been recording several attacks by bandits in the last year, lamenting that no measure has been taken to save guard lives from the frequent attacks.
Calls put through to the state Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Mohammed Jalige to confirm the incident was not responded to up to the time of filing this report.
They expressed anger that the President chose to travel to Lagos for the book launch at a time Nigerians were grieving the 23 people, including women and children, who were burnt and killed in Sokoto last Monday.
Aggrieved Northern youths under the aegis of Northern Alliance Movement (NAM) have lambasted President Muhammadu Buhari for attending a book launch in Lagos last Thursday.
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