From Joseph Amedu, Lokoja
The ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise has recorded major casualties as 40 CVR candidates heading home in a bus after their registration exercise were abducted at gunpoint.
The incident happened along Dekina-Ajiyolo-Anyigba road at about 6pm on Friday, 7th of November 2025.
The victims were mostly residents of Abocho community and environs who chattered a bus to convey them to Dekina the LGA headquarters to enable them participate in the ongoing Continuous Voters Registration (CVR) exercise.
Eye witness said that on their way back to Abocho after the successful exercise, they were ambushed and forcefully abducted by kidnappers numbering over 20 and fully armed.
The news of the mass abduction sent panic waves to the communities there by generating tension and anxieties.
Relief however, came later on as troops of 12 Brigade Lokoja in collaboration with the local security network gave a hot chase to the criminals. This forced the kidnappers to abandoned some of the victims and escaped with few others.
Eye witness also said, “The kidnappers played a fast one on us, they released about 31 of their victims, and we thought that was all and we relaxed not knowing that they simply used those ones for us to calm down. But before we realized their tricks, they had gone far with about 10 victims”
“When the profile of the victims were taken, it was realized that there are about 10 members of the community still missing including the driver of the bus”
It was learnt that the bus was recovered and taken to Abocho police station while security agencies continued their search for the remaining 10 victims in custody of the kidnappers.
The security agencies has vowed to track the kidnappers until the remaining ten captives are freed.
Efforts to confirm the incident by the Police Public Relations Officer, ASP, William Ovye Aya failed as he could not respond to calls and text messages.
