YET-TO-IDENTIFIED CATHOLIC PRIEST ALLEGEDLY KIDNAPPED IN ENUGU
A yet-to-identified Catholic priest was Saturday evening allegedly kidnapped along Opi-Ugwuogo expressway in Enugu State.
It was gathered that the kidnappers disguised as police operatives and operated at a checkpoint before whisking the priest away.
A viral video of the incident showed that the hoodlums escaped with the priest when the escorts of the Deputy Governor of Enugu State, Barr Ifeanyi Ossai, arrived at the scene.
According to an eye witness, the kidnappers also shot at a windscreen of a hilux, although the occupants were not kidnapped following the arrival of the deputy governor’s convoy.
“It was someone inside the hilux that shouted that the people we thought were policemen were actually kidnappers,” said a source.
“They were firing at the convoy as they were running into the bush. But already they had carried the priest inside.”
The passenger in the hilux was heard saying that the bullet nearly hit his head.
It was learnt that the deputy governor was returning from the burial of a brother to former Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mbah, a Deputy Inspector General of Police.
Enugu-Ugwuogo-Opi road has been witnessing kidnap cases despite the presence of many police and military checkpoints.
Operatives of the Rapid Response Squad were recently deployed to strategic places along the road to check the activities of criminals.
The state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, is yet to make an official statement on the matter as efforts to get him to speak did not yield positive results.