Suspected gunmen have ambushed a Benue Links commercial bus along the Makurdi-Otukpo Road and kidnapped 14 passengers on board.

It was gathered that the passengers, some of whom are suspected to be students going for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) slated for Thursday, were heading to Otukpo from Makurdi when they were kidnapped between 7:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday.

The state commissioner of police, Ifeanyi Emenari, confirmed the incident, noting 14 passengers were abducted.

Mr Emenari, however, said one of the victims eventually escaped from the kidnappers.

“What happened was that one Benue Links bus carrying passengers coming to Otukpo was stopped and attacked by hoodlums, and 14 passengers were kidnapped, but one was able to escape,” the CP stated.

Mr Emenari said the driver allegedly picked up passengers after official hours, adding the command had commenced an investigation into the incident.

“We know that Benue Links has a policy and don’t usually drive at night. So from what I got, they have already closed, but the driver, for reasons best known to him which we are still trying to find out, picked passengers along the road, and when he came here, the story you have is what we are having,” he added. 

The chairman of Otukpo LG Council, Maxwell Ogiri, also confirmed the development, adding the victims were mainly young boys and girls coming to the council for UTME.

The victims are mainly young boys and girls coming to Otukpo to take the UTME,” Mr Ogiri stated.

Atamber Dorathy of Benue Links told Peoples Gazette that the management is looking into the incident but is not in a position to comment on it.

She said, “That, I can’t answer now because the management is still on it. This information is not for me to give.”

When The Gazette contacted Udeme Edet, the police spokesperson in Benue, he was not available for comment. SMS and text messages sent to him remained unanswered as of press time.

Meanwhile, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board told The Gazette that it cannot confirm if UTME candidates were among those kidnapped, since the identities of the victims are not yet known, but assured that it will escalate the matter to the police.

JAMB spokesperson, Fabian Benjamin, said, “If indeed, it happened, it’s unfortunate. It’s difficult for us to know they are JAMB candidates, we don’t have any details, number or names to prove they are JAMB candidates. The only advise I’ll give is that candidates should choose centers that are where they live, so that they don’t have to travel that kind of distance.

“Let’s wait for police to do their investigation. It’s an unfortunate situation we’ve found ourselves in our country. So, we’ll talk to them to find out what has happened, who the candidates are, why they were travelling in the night and why they were travelling such a distance to go and sit for the exam.”