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A group of bandits on Saturday night invaded Dahjonu community in Millennium City of Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and kidnapped two journalists, Abdulgafar Alabelewe from The Nation and AbdulRaheem Abdu from Blueprint newspaper, along with their wives and children.
Alabelewe is also the current chairman of the Correspondents’ Chapel of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Kaduna State Council.
A family member of the victims, Taofeeq Olayemi, confirmed the incident, stating that the bandits arrived at around 10:30 pm and began shooting indiscriminately before carrying out the abduction.
Olayemi mentioned that the bandits took Alabelewe, his wife, and two of his children, while Abdu and his wife, who was also unwell, were taken, leaving their sick daughter behind.
In addition to this, they broke doors and windows, and removed burglar bars after scaling the fence.
Olayemi, who is also a neighbor to the victims, added, “They came around 10:30 pm on Saturday and started shooting indiscriminately.
“They first forced Aodu’s door open and picked him and his wife and left their sick daughter behind.
“Then, they entered Abdulgafar’s house through the fence and jumped into his house.
“They went straight into his bedroom and picked him, his wife, and two of their kids and left immediately, after which the vigilantes arrived and started shooting into the air.”
As of the time of filing this report, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mansir Hassan, could not be reached for comments as his telephone line was unreachable.
