Several others injured in the attacks are in various hospitals in Nsukka and Enugu, southeast Nigeria for medical attention.
Gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen have taken over a 15km Enugu-Ugwuogo-Opi-Nsukka Road, abducting 16 travellers in about four days despite over 15 military and police checkpoints on the road.
Several others injured in the attacks are in various hospitals in Nsukka and Enugu, southeast Nigeria for medical attention.
The hoodlums reportedly boasted to their victims that they are Hausa/Fulani and vowed to make the southeast region a living hell over agitations for the restoration of the independent state of Biafra.
SaharaReporters gathered that between Tuesday, June 20 and Friday, June 23, about seven kidnapping incidents took place on a stretch of road that is less than 10km long and with 12 military and police checkpoints in addition to a mobile police base and a police divisional headquarters.
SaharaReporters learnt that the Enugu-Ugwuogo-Opi-Nsukka Road constructed by former Governor Sullivan Chime as an alternative to the dilapidated Opi-9th Mile Federal Road witnessed recurring abduction cases before the 2023 general elections, including the abduction of one-time secretary to the Enugu State government, Dr Dan Shere.
Lamenting the recent siege of kidnapping on the ever-busy road, some commercial drivers plying the road called on relevant security agencies to rise up to the occasion and defend the people.
They said 16 persons were abducted in abut four days.
A commercial driver, Emenike Omeh, lamented that despite several security checkpoints, kidnappers who reportedly come from faraway Kogi and Benue states had made the road unsafe for commuters and motorists.
He said: "Since last Tuesday, there have been kidnapping cases every day till yesterday - Saturday. We have over 15 military and police checkpoints along that road and the hoodlums operate successfully and carry their victims to Kogi State, where ransoms are paid.”
“During the Central Bank of Nigeria's cashless policy, kidnapping along that road immediately stopped, and kidnappers left the road. It was not the security agencies per se, but the cashless policy that halted it,” he said, adding that since after the election, the kidnappers have returned to the road.
Kingsley Ossai, a commercial driver plying the road from Nsukka to Abakpa told SaharaReporters that the checkpoints instead of stopping kidnapping had only worsened the situation. "All the security operatives on the road are only busy extorting motorists and drivers. When the kidnappers are operating on the road, the police will tell you ‘don't go, they are operating there instead of going to engage them’.
"As I speak to you four persons from Ehalumona in Nsukka Local Government Area are victims. Harrison Ogara, a member of Enugu State House of Assembly, and his members of staff narrowly escaped a few days ago. Felix Ezugwu from Umabor Ehalumona is one of the victims. So, I am not telling you stories of what didn't happen."
Meanwhile, the Chairman of Nsukka Local Government Area, Walter Ozioko has set up a local security team called Nsukka LGA Rapid Response Squad to patrol Opi-Ugwogo Road and tackle the kidnapping incidents.
Addressing the crack team in his Adada House office before deploying them, Ozioko charged them to make the road uncomfortable for hoodlums.
Ozioko also said that plans had been concluded to begin another round of bush clearing along the roads to increase visibility for commuters and remove hiding places that enable the kidnappers to swoop on their unsuspecting victims.
Reacting to the increasing kidnapping cases along the 15km Enugu-Ugwuogo-Opi-Nsukka Road and other areas in the state like Aninri, Uzo-Uwani and Isi-Uzo, the state police command denied any knowledge of such kidnapping cases.
In a statement issued by the state police spokesperson, DSP Daniel Ndukwe on Sunday regarding reports of kidnapping along the road and elsewhere, the command said “repeated cases of kidnapping on Enugu Road are untrue and misleading."
Ndukwe stated, "The Command, therefore, wishes to state categorically that the video, with the accompanying message and the news publications, are not only untrue but highly unfounded and misleading. This is because there was no such serial or repeated incident of kidnapping on the same day as reported, or shooting and chaotic incident as relayed in the video, at the mentioned location or any other part of the state.
"As a matter of fact, forensic analysis of the video indicates that it did not happen anywhere in the country, let alone Enugu State. In the same vein, the Command sees the unverified and unfounded report of repeated kidnapping incidents on the same day, as a misleading and mischievous act of misinformation, aimed at creating panic in the State.
"Nonetheless, the Command, while acknowledging the recent reoccurrence of acts of abduction/kidnapping at some locations of the said road, wishes to clearly state that sensationalizing and blowing the situation out of proportion, as intended by peddlers of the video clip and the publication, will never be in the best interest of the security and safety of the State and her people."
Ndukwe added that the Commissioner of Police, Ahmed Ammani, had “ordered the massive deployment of the Command's policing resources to the said location and other of such locations, to sustain onslaught against criminal elements. He reiterates the unwavering commitment of the Command to contain such acts of crime and criminality in the state and to bring their perpetrators to book."