Nine kidnapped,  one killed in two weeks in Nasarawa
By Donatus Nadi,  Lafia

The last two weeks have witnessed serial kidnappings and murder in Nasarawa state, especially in Nasarawa local government, as one Kamilu Dalhatu of Bursery Department of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa was kidnapped alongside three of his friends on his wedding day.
They were kidnapped on Saturday, 16th March, 2019 on their way  to Nasarawa from Udege-Mbeki having attended the wedding ceremony. They were later released after their families paid an undisclosed amount to the abductors as ransom.
In a related development, Alhaji Jibrin M. Usman, the Managing Director, Nasarawa Micro Finance Bank, also in Nasarawa local government was kidnapped at his Marmara residence on Sunday, 24th March, 2019. He, like others, was released after payment of an undisclosed amount to his abductors.
A newly wedded man by the name Shuaibu Owuna was reportedly murdered in cold blood by unknown gunmen on his way to Nasarawa from Onda. He was said to have wedded last Saturday, 23rd March, 2019 at Onda, his community.
Similarly, gunmen on Wednesday attacked vehicles along the busy AkwangaAkwanga-Akwanga-Keffi expressway kidnapping four women in the process.
Chairman of Correspondents’ Chapel of Nigeria Union of Journalists in Nasarawa State, Suleiman Abubakar’s wife, Yahanasu Abubakar, was among those kidnapped.
Suleiman told newsmen that the incident happened around 7:00 p.m. along Gudi-Garaku road in Akwanga Local Government Area of the state.
According to him, the gunmen shot at the union bus they were travelling in from Keffi, where his wife had gone to register at the National Youth Service Corps orientation camp.
He said the bus ran into a ditch after it was shot at which gave the gunmen the opportunity to abduct his wife, the wife of a former state assembly member, who was on the bus as well as two other women from another vehicle.
He further disclosed that negotiations for the release of the women was ongoing as the kidnappers have demanded for N5 million ransom.
Meanwhile, ASP Samaila Usman, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, said the command had mobilised officers to the area to search and rescue the abducted women.