Three businessmen have been kidnapped in Calabar, Cross River State capital within one week.
This came barely one month after two pupils were allegedly abducted from a public school in Ikot Effanga in Calabar Municipality.
DAILY POST gathered that on Monday at about 8:00pm, one Justine 47, a native of Ukanafon in Akwa Ibom, was whisked away by gunmen at Yellow Duke by Palm Street in Calabar South local government to an unknown destination.
On the same day, another person, identified as Nwadike, 41, from Imo state, was abducted about 9:00pm at Ikot Ansa. Nwadike, from our finding is a building contractor who shuttles between Imo and Cross River.
The third person, Lumba, a mechanic from Ohafia in Abia State was whisked away at his workshop at Cemetery axis in Goldie Street, Calabar Municipality on Wednesday.
An eyewitness, Ogbonnia Udehi, said the hoodlums stormed the mechanic workshop on Wednesday at about 5:00pm by scaling through the fence.
On sighting the gang, one of Lumba’s boys took to his heels and while Lumba attempted to escape the kidnappers swooped on him and whisked him into a steaming car and zoomed off.
According to the account, the kidnappers shot sporadically into the air to scare residents away while their victim cried for help.
A family source, who did not want his name mentioned, said the kidnappers had not called since then and they are wondering whether their brother was still alive.
The source further said that it was unusual for kidnappers to keep their victim for long without calling to demand for ransom.
A family member of Nwadike, who simply gave his name as Chukwudube, said: “The abductors of my brother has called and demanded for N20m as ransom.
“But I pleaded with them that we don’t have such money at this time. We have not reported to the security operatives because they warned that if we do they would kill him and we would still pay the ransom.
“So, we are in dilemma and don’t know what to do. We are still begging the people to let him go for his health sake.”
Reacting to the development, the state Police Commissioner, Mr Mohammed Inuwa Hafiz said most times families of kidnapped victims hardly report such incidents and that it made things difficult for the command.
Inuwa said once the command was notified of any crime, they act immediately as they were ready to root out criminals from the state.
He said, however, that the command had arrested three notorious criminals who had been terrorising Calabar South, adding that they would soon be prosecuted.
It would be recalled that in the last couple of months, Cross River State had witnessed series of security challenges, ranging from robbery, cultism and gangsterism.
Between December and March, there have been reported cases of kidnapping of medical doctors, among others.
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