Six gunmen on Monday night seized the mother of the House of Representatives member representing Ijebu North, Ijebu East and Ogun Waterside Federal Constituency, Abiodun Abudu Balogun, from her home.
The federal lawmaker is the deputy chairman of the House of Representatives’ Committee on Internal Security.
The suspected gunmen invaded the Ita-Otu, Ijebu Waterside Local Government Area residence of the woman, Alhaja Obedatu Abudu Balogun, at about 9:30pm on Monday and forcibly took her away to an unknown destination.
This is the latest incident as sundry criminals terrorise the people of the state.
Between Sunday and Monday, robbers killed about 10 persons in different attacks in Ibafo and Abeokuta.
The situation forced banks operating on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway to shut shop by 2p.m on Tuesday.
Gunmen have attacked a vessel belonging to Bobon International Oil Limited off the coast of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Bayelsa State abducting six Russians and another expatriate believed to be an Estonian.
Our correspondent gathered that the expatriates were abducted at a time the security sources described as “wee hours of Tuesday”
Though the identities of the attackers and their motives were not known, security sources described them as pirates.
The incident which had created tension and fear of resurgence of kidnapping of expatriates in the Niger Delta region occurred along the Pennington River.
Fifteen workers were said to be on board the vessel which was believed to be sailing from the Pennington Offshore Terminal situated 16 miles to the entrance of Fishtown River
when the incident happened.
While eight of the workers were said to have arrived Nigerian Port at Onne after escaping the attack, seven others were unlucky as they were captured by the bandits and taken to an unknown destination.
A source told our correspondent that communities close to the Coast of Pennington are host to Chevron’s oil platform in the area and belong to the company’s cluster known as the KEFFES communities.
Operatives of the Joint Task Force, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield and the Central Naval Command of the Nigerian Navy were said to be combing the creeks to locate the whereabouts of the foreigners.
Confirming the incident the Media Coordinator, JTF, Lt. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, told our correspondent that operatives of the outfit had intensified search for the expatriates.
He said, “Some unknown gunmen attacked a vessel and abducted seven persons consisting of six Russians and one Estonian national. We have deployed our naval elements to comb the area and track down the kidnappers. We have also alerted all operational bases.”
GUNMEN on a motocycle on Wednesday shot dead two officers of the Federal Road Safety Commission in Kano, Kano State.
The killers were suspected to be members of the violent Islamic sect, Boko Haram.
One other FRSC official sustained bullet wounds.
The killing occurred at about 1pm around Madobi Road, near Sani Abacha Youth Centre, in Panshekera, a suburb of Kano metropolis.
The incident came barely 24 hours after two policemen were shot dead by suspected gunmen in the city.
A policeman close to the scene of the incident, who preferred anonymity, told our correspondent that, “A Federal Road Safety Commission patrol vehicle was attacked by gunmen on a motorbike, killing two officers and wounding one.”
Sector Commander of the FRSC, Kano State Command, Zaaki Alkali confirmed the incident to journalists.
He said his men were four in the vehicle when the attackers opened fire on them.
“Two officers died instantly, while one sustained bullet wounds, but the fourth person survived the attack unhurt. It is a very sad incident”, Alkali explained.
Unknown gunmen have attacked Dogon Kuka village in Yobe State, killing and injuring an unspecified number of people.
The gunmen invaded the village on Saturday, and started firing indiscriminately.
Two people died immediately, the Commissioner of Police, Yobe State Command, Patrick Egbuniwe, confirmed to Agence France Presse.
“A group of unknown gunmen stormed Dogon Kuka village and opened fire on residents. From all indications, they were on a shooting spree. From reports reaching us, some people might have been killed,” Egbuniwe told AFP.
The state police commissioner said he could not put a figure on the number of deaths.
“I don’t have details yet but we have deployed security personnel to the village to ascertain the nature and extent of the attack,” he said.
He declined to say if the attackers were members of the extremist Boko Haram, which has been blamed for a string of deadly attacks in several parts of Yobe State and neighbouring Borno State.
The village is about 70 kilometres (45 miles) from Damaturu, the state capital.
Gunmen suspected to be Boko Haram have reportedly shot and killed three Chinese construction workers in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital.
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon in Gubio Local Government Area, about 89 kilometers from Maiduguri, Premium Times reports.
The Chinese are said to be staff of a construction company, working on several projects in the state.
Reports indicate that the victims, who regularly visited local markets were shot as they patronised a local market.
A four-year-old girl, Faith Okorie, was on Saturday kidnapped by gunmen in Okposi, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State.
An eyewitness, who wished to be identified as Ijeoma, said, “It was like lightening; the young men numbering about five drove into the compound of the girls’ father, Mr. Chukwuka Okorie, with sophisticated guns.
“Before anybody could ask what the problem was, the criminals collected the phones of all members of the family at gunpoint. After collecting the phones, they snatched Faith and drove away with her.”
Ijeoma said the incident was reported at the Police Divisional Headquarters, Obiozara.
A family member, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the kidnappers had contacted the family.
“The kidnappers have established contacts with the family and they are demanding N5m ransom before releasing the girl,” he said.
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Sylvester Igbo, said he had yet to be fully briefed by the DPO of Ohaozara.
He, however, said the criminals would be apprehended and brought to book very soon.
