Gunmen have kidnapped a busload of passengers around Okene in Kogi State.
Several posts on X on Wednesday indicated that the passengers were travelling from Benin, the Edo State capital, heading to Abuja when the gunmen attacked their bus in Okene.
The bus belongs to Big Joe Motors, a transport company based in Benin. One X post said the bus driver was kidnapped along with the passengers.
An official from the Abuja office of Big Joe Motor, who answered a call to a phone number on a copy of the transport company’s receipt, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES on Thursday.
Truecaller, a mobile phone application for identifying callers, indicated that the phone number holder was David Aiguobagbon.
The official who spoke in a masculine voice said the company has not been able to ascertain the exact number of kidnapped passengers as some of them reportedly escaped from the abductors.
However, he confirmed that the passengers were driven in a 13-passenger bus and not an 18-passenger bus as circulated on social media.
“We do not use or have 18-passenger buses. We only have 13,” the official said, adding, “According to what we heard, it was 13 people, and some of the passengers were able to escape. But we don’t have all the facts yet. We are not certain if the passengers were 13 or 18.”
His comment also contradicts claims on X that the kidnappers had demanded a N30 million ransom.
A user claimed to have confirmed the ransom demand by the kidnappers from the transport office’s company in Abuja.
But the officer from the Abuja office of the company, who spoke with PREMIUM TIMES, said, “Some of the passengers left their phones behind and we have not received any call from the kidnappers yet demanding any ransom.”
He said the company was making efforts to assist police to intervene and try to establish contact with the driver.
“One of our managers is already at the police station in Kogi State helping the police out. We have yet to hear from the driver. He has two phones; one was left behind, and he was with the second one. We have been trying to reach him. His phone was still ringing yesterday, but it had already been switched off this morning (Thursday).
“We beg the families of the people to exercise patience with us; we are working with the police, and it will be successful.
“If any family has been contacted for ransom, they should please contact us,” he said.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, the spokesperson for the Kogi State Police Command, William Aya, told our reporter he was not aware of the incident but promised to confirm it and revert with his findings. However, he has not answered further calls or responded to messages requesting an update about the incident.
Ademola Popoola
