About eighteen passengers on Wednesday night were abducted by gunmen along Abuja-Lokoja Highway in Kogi State.
A passenger, Benjamin Isaac, who escaped narrowly, said the incident happened around 8.00pm at Ochonyi-Omoko village.
According to him, the driver of their bus ran into the armed men, hiding in a bush.
He said the men armed with AK-47 rifles and other dangerous weapons opened fire on their vehicle on sighting them and deflated its back tyres, therefore, forcing the bus to stop.
Narrating the incident, he said: “They opened fire on back tyres which forced the driver to lose control. When the driver veered off the road, the gunmen came out of hiding and ordered all the passengers to come out. They led us into the bush at gunpoint.
“But miraculously I managed to escape from the scene with other passengers and ran into the bus to avoid being abducted by the bandits.”
Also, a vigilante, confirmed the incident, saying he witnessed from afar where he was set to go and pray.
He said: “I was performing ablution nearby when I was startled by gunshots. I immediately reached out to my colleagues and we mobilised to the scene. On getting to athe spot we discovered a bus abandoned by the roadside without passengers inside.
“From the we knew the passengers of the bus had been kidnapped and we set out to comb the forest to trace the gunmen and rescue the victims.”
