- Youths protest in Nasarawa after kidnappers kill two residents and abduct an elderly man.
- Residents say gunmen repeatedly invade the community, targeting people returning from farms.
- Protesters take victims’ bodies to the highway, demanding urgent government intervention.
- Police deploy operatives to restore calm and investigate the continuous kidnappings.
Residents of Sarkin Noma, a community in Keana Local Government Area of Nasarawa State, poured onto the streets on Friday, shutting down the Lafia–Makurdi highway in protest after yet another night of violent kidnapping.
According to community youth leader Ogu Iliya, the attackers stormed the village around midnight, shooting into the air and forcing terrified residents to flee. He said the gunmen, numbering about fifty, moved straight to houses and abducted an elderly resident.
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In a desperate attempt to resist, young men in the community mobilised for self-defence. The confrontation turned deadly.
“Two of our youths were shot and killed. People here live in fear every night. Anyone returning late from the farm or market risks being kidnapped,” Iliya said.
The protesters carried the bodies of the two victims to the main road and blocked traffic for hours, leaving travellers stranded on the Lafia–Makurdi route.
He added that the attacks have become frequent and that the kidnappings are affecting farming and trading activities.
“The man taken last night is still missing. We don’t know if he is alive,” he said.
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Responding to the protest, Nasarawa State Police Command’s spokesman, SP Ramhan Nansel, confirmed the incident. He disclosed that the Commissioner of Police, Shettima Mohammed-Jauro, had led a team of operatives to the scene to restore calm and begin investigations.
Meanwhile, in a separate development, the Federal Capital Territory Police Command announced that it rescued 23 foreign nationals from kidnappers in the state. The victims, men, women and a child were freed during a special late-night operation carried out by the Scorpion Squad.
