The Ubulu-Uku community in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State has appealed to the Inspector General of Police and Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to save them from incessant attacks and kidnappings by herdsmen. According to them, the community has been placed under siege by the herders.
They made the call following last Friday’s abduction of three children at the boundary between Ubulu-Uku and Isah -Ogwashi.
One of the abductees, a female, Awele Udeh, was in company with two others, but was kidnapped while the two others escaped.
A youth leader from Ubulu-Uku, Paul Maduagwu, told Daily Sun that on the fateful Friday, the young Ubulu-Uku girl in her early twenties was reportedly kidnapped by gunmen between Ubulu-Uku and Isah-Ogwashi Road. The young lady from a family in Agbonta street in Ubulu-Uku, was attacked alongside two other youths who were in the same vehicle returning from a Bachelor’s party in the community.
They hoped to return for the wedding the next day but was made impossible by the attack.
“Two persons escaped unhurt, while one person sustained very serious machete wounds,” he said. “The kidnappers who collected the telephone of the female victim, have communicated her family, demanding N5 million ransom. The kidnappers who have Fulani accent had threatened to kill the girl if the ransom was not paid.
“The family were scared that their daughter may be killed and raised the ransom which they handed over to the herdsmen at a location. The herders who carried sophisticated arms really waited at their proposed location, collected the ransom and warned that they would return. As it is, the herders have turned our community to their ATM. Anytime they are broke, they would just mount road block and pick passengers in any vehicle of their choice.
“We are appealing to the Inspector General of Police to prevail on the state commissioner of police, Mr. Hafiz Inuwa to do something about the incessant kidnapping on Isele-Uku/Ubulu-Uku road and Ogwashi-Uku /Ubulu-Uku Road. We want Governor Ifeanyi Okowa to step in and prevail on the CP to fish out the kidnappers. When they started killing us on the road, we abandoned that route and decided follow the Ogwashi-Uku road but the hoodlums have traced us to there.
“Over five victims, including a medical doctor, Odozi and Chief Chikwe Ojinji have lost their lives while many were injured by the herdsmen. We are under siege and the government should not abandon us. We are hoping that the government should do something urgently because we are predominantly farmers and we can’t go to the farm any more as the herdsmen have taken over bushes and our farmlands. We are afraid that there will soon be scarcity of food in our area”.
Sun News
