Abia University confirms abduction of students
The Management of the Abia State University Uturu, has confirmed the abduction of an unspecified number of its students by gunmen along Okigwe-Uturu road.
The victims were kidnapped alongside other passengers as the bus conveying them was ambushed by gunmen suspected to be bandits.
According to a release by the Public Relations Officer, PRO of the university, the incident took place around 8:00 pm on Thursday, March 31.
The release advised students to avoid night travels while assuring that efforts were being intensified to secure the release of the affected students.
Reports, however, have it that two medical students of the university ( names withheld) were part of the victims.
Their abductors were said to have contacted the families of the victims and made a demand for N2 million ransom for each person.
Despite countless security checkpoints on the five-kilometre road between Uturu and Okigwe in Imo, kidnapping for ransom has become so rampant on the road.
Fulani bandits have been fingered for most of the abductions around the vicinity.
A number of abductions had been recorded around the area since last year with ABSU students and staff being the victims.
Fulani bandits in one of the incidents last year shot indiscriminately into a bus conveying students of Marist Academy Uturu returning from a trip in Imo killing a final year student in the process.
Fulani herdsmen have virtually taken control of the hills around the area where they openly graze their cattle despite the anti-open grazing law in the state.
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