36 kidnapped, 4 killed on Ibada Elume Bridge, Delta in 2 months

With 36 persons kidnapped and four killed in the last two months, a trip across the Ibada Elume Bridge near Sapele in Delta State is now at the risk of one’s life as kidnappers have taken over that precinct.

Vehicles plying the bridge, BusinessDay has been told, are now being forced to stop and the occupants whisked away at will by AK47- wielding suspected herdsmen, while the Federal and Delta State governments snore away. It was further learnt that ransoms are demanded in millions of naira by the kidnappers to free the victims, while those unable to afford their demands are allegedly killed.

Emmanuel Nted, a former vice president of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), told newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday that over 36 persons had been kidnapped off the Ibada Elume Bridge in the last two months with four killed by the herdsmen. Security agencies, it was gathered, have been unable to halt the ugly trend.

“It was the kidnap of a labour leader (Comrade Samson Pere) in Wari ports, Delta State that opened our eyes to the activities of these deadly kidnapping gangs perceived to be herders and their collaborators. Pere was kidnapped alongside five others on March 5 and released on March 8, 2021.

Pere and his co-travellers were tortured, beaten with cutlasses, and almost killed. Pere hands were almost severed by about eight armed men with AK47 riffles who kidnapped them,” said Nted.

According to Nted, who is also the immediate past president-general of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria (MWUN), three days after the release of Pere and his co-travellers, precisely on March 11, 17 persons were also kidnapped. Similarly, on April 3, five other travellers were kidnapped. Also on March 7, eight persons were also kidnapped with four deaths recorded.

“All these kidnapping occurred same place; at Ibada Elume Bridge close to Sapele in Delta State,” said Nted, who added that it was difficult to believe the Federal and Delta State governments were not aware of what has been happening on the bridge.

“From reports, immediately victims are abducted, they are taken into the nearby forest where all sorts of ill-treatment including rape are meted on female victims before ransoms are paid. Victims that cannot pay ransoms are threatened with death. This is unacceptable,” said Nted.

The former labour leader, who expressed personal concern about the rising abductions and killings of innocent Nigerians on highways across the country and the Ibada Elume Bridge in particular, said it was time the government at federal and state levels as well as security agencies arrested the situation as the majority of Nigerians cannot afford to fly or charter private jets.