Armed gunmen kidnap former Kogi lawmaker, eight others in Abuja

Unidentified gunmen have kidnapped an ex-member of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Friday Makama, and eight others.

They were allegedly kidnapped by gunmen at Hilltop International Premium Hotel, Tunga-Maje in Gwagwalada Area of the Federal Capital Territory on Wednesday night.

Our reporter learnt that Makama and some of his relatives had gathered at the hotel to hold a community reunion meeting scheduled for Thursday.

It was further discovered that a committee meeting took place late Wednesday night and they were leaving when the gunmen invaded the premises around 11.27 pm.

One of the hotel workers who did not want to be named, disclosed that the gunmen were about 15, stating that they shot irregularly all through the operation.

He said,” Yesterday (Wednesday), a group of people came here for a community reconciliation meeting scheduled to hold here today (Thursday) but they had a caucus meeting in the evening around 10 pm.

“They booked rooms here and booked extra for people arriving today. Not long after they finished their meeting and were about to leave around 11.27 pm, suddenly a group of gunmen over 15 invaded the hotel premises and shot sporadically into the air as they went through the back and took some people away.

“Some of them came in while the others surrounded the hotel and ensured that no one ran. They brought back those who attempted to.”

The manager of the hotel, Adejoh Maquile, declared that he would have been killed had he not dodged one of the shots meant for him.

He said, “I counted about 45 pallets of bullets, among them are some with military colour.  I would have been dead, but had to dodge the bullet. The walls of the hotel were riddled with bullets.”

When questioned if he had an idea of the number of people abducted by the gunmen he said, “Those who were abducted are Friday Makama; the hotel’s Managing Director, Frederick Adejo; a pharmacist and his driver; and about three people that came with the honourable.

“The security man was shot and was taken along with them. Also taken along are the accountant of the hotel and a female fun seeker. These are the ones I can account for. They are nine but there could be others.”

The police representative in the FCT, Mariam Yusuf confirmed the incident.

Yusuf said that the command had commenced a strategic operation to rescue the victims unharmed.