Suspected kidnappers, have invaded a Catholic Church in Enugu State and abducted a seminarian and two other worshippers, however, one of the victims was freed some moment later.
Penpushing reports that witnesses said the incident occurred on Sunday morning at St. Joseph Catholic Church, Inoyi, in Affa, Udi Local Government Area of the state, adding that the seminarian had entered the church to conduct worship alongside some worshippers when the gunmen invaded the church.
The identified abducted seminarian was Lawrence Chidera Igbo, and the other worshipper was simply identified as Emmanuel, however, an indigene of the community, who identified himself simply as Christopher, said although three people were initially abducted, the attackers left with two people, including the seminarian.
“The kidnappers initially abducted the seminarian, catechist, and another person in the church. But after they moved with the victims for a few minutes, the kidnappers asked the catechist to go back and then entered the bush with the seminarian and the other worshipper,” Christopher’, said.
Penushing further reports that in the clip, a man, who claimed to have witnessed the attack but did not identify himself, narrated how it happened, recalling that there was rain fall and preparing to go to church.
“Rain was falling while we prepared for church. What we saw was that a crowd of people ran towards us, saying that our seminarian and other worshippers had been abducted from the church’, he said.
“While we were running around on how to face the problem, police operatives came and enquired of the route the kidnappers followed and we showed them and also joined them in combing the bushes. The kidnappers were seven and all had Ak-45. But we retreated because we had no weapons. Should we pursue armed kidnappers empty-handed?” the man stated.
Penpushing also reports that other residents who spoke corroborated his narrative and claimed that they were willing to confront the kidnappers but had no weapons to do so.
“We no longer feel safe in our community because of kidnappers. When we began combing the bushes, they were firing shots at us and we ran because we had no guns,” one other resident said.
Penpushing reports that the residents called on Governor Peter Mbah of Enugu State to assist the community in tackling frequent kidnap attacks in the area.
“We have able-bodied youths and even vigilante members, but they need to be equipped to work. We are begging Peter Mbah to help us,” one of them appealed.
Penpushing further reports that the Enugu State Police Command Public Relations Officer Daniel Ndukwe,in a statement, claimed that the third victim was freed after a joint team of security operatives trailed the kidnappers.
“The operatives, while closing in on the fleeing suspects, forced them to abandon one of the victims, who was immediately rescued unhurt. The assailants, however, escaped with the remaining two victims,” he said.
Penpushing also reports that Nduwke explained that the joint security team comprised the police, the forest guard and members of the neighbourhood watch group in the community embarked on intensive operation.
The statement stated that the Commissioner of Police, Bitrus Giwa, has ordered the Area Commander, Oji-River, and the Head of the Command’s Violent Crime Response Unit to further intensify ongoing operations to track the attackers and rescue the victims.
Penpushing reports that it added that the commissioner equally ordered immediate generation of actionable human and technical intelligence in support of the operation, while activating the surveillance and technical capabilities of the Enugu State Command-and-Control Centre to bolster the ongoing rescue efforts.
The police boss urged residents of the community to remain calm and continue to support the police with information that will aid ongoing operations, and assured them that every available resource was being deployed to secure the safe rescue of the remaining victims and prosecute the attackers.
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