Edo State Government disclosed yesterday that only 20 persons were abducted in last Saturday train station invasion by gunmen at Igueben and not 32 as earlier stated.
The state Commissioner for Communication and Orientation, Chris Nehikhare, who announced this, said with the rescue of seven of the victims, only 13 persons were still in custody of the abductors.
Nehikhare, explained that the latest information was from security intelligence.
“From intelligence report, the kidnappers, only took 20 hostages as against 32 initially reported”, he said.
The Commissioner said the state deputy governor, Mr. Philip Shaibu, has meet with Igueben community leaders, and heads of security agencies, to assure residents of measures to check crime.
He quoted Shaibu as saying that the government was strengthening security to check crime, and criminality, vowing that Governor Godwin Obaseki’s administration would make the state unsafe for kidnappers,and other criminal elements to thrive.
Nehikhare said the deputy governor was joined at the meeting by other top government officials, including the Senator representing Edo Central Senatorial District, Senator Clifford Ordia, and the Speaker, Edo State House of Assembly, Marcus Onobun, where he called for calm among residents of Igueben Local Government Area, and urged members of the public to provide useful information that will aid the rescue efforts by security agencies.
He warned the people of the consequences of harbouring terrorists in their domain, just as he told the royal father’s within the area to sit up as the government would not be happy with any of them who let out his facilities to be used by kidnappers as such facilities would be seized.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Police in charge of the Railway Command, Mr. Yetunde Longe, has said that the police, and other sister agencies,were making frantic efforts to rescue the victims.
Longe in a statement on Wednesday,stressing that the police and other security agencies were working closely to rescue the victims from the captivity of the abductors.
