Some yet-to-be-identified armed men on Tuesday morning kidnapped Chukwudi Ogbonna, the Accord Party candidate for the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area Constituency in the Rivers State House of Assembly.
This is coming barely four days to the State House of Assembly which is fixed for the March 18 election.
It was learned that Mr Ogbonna was abducted while driving in his car at Rumuigbo, near Port Harcourt on Monday night when the gunmen forced him to stop and whisked him away with his car.
This was confirmed to PUNCH by his brother, Ifeaka Nwakiri, saying “They took him with his Mercedes car. We have reported the matter at the Kala Police station.”
Meanwhile, during the build-up to the 2023 general elections, the Nigerian security agencies had expressed concern about likely violence in Rivers and other places where offices of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were attacked by hoodlums.
INEC offices in Osun, Ogun and Enugu have been attacked in recent times, forcing police and other security agencies to increase security surveillance around its offices across the states.
Political thugs have also attacked or disrupted rallies of opposing parties in states like Zamfara leading to fears that security personnel would be overstretched during the elections.