Another traditional ruler in Plateau State, Da Gyang Balak, has been kidnapped by gunmen.
It was gathered that Balak, the Paramount ruler in Vwang District, Jos South Local Government Area, was abducted around 8 pm on Sunday.
It was learnt that the monarch was driving home along the road near the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in the Kuru community when the gunmen accosted him and whisked him away to an unknown destination.
The Vwang incident is coming less than one month after gunmen had abducted a traditional ruler in Mangu LGA, Charles Dakat, who is the Paramount Ruler of Gindiri. He was later released after a ransom was allegedly paid to the abductors.
The lawmaker representing Jos South in the Plateau State House of Assembly, Fom Gwattson, confirmed the latest abduction to The PUNCH in Jos on Monday.
Gwattson said “I have just been informed of the kidnap of one of our traditional rulers, Da Gwom Rwei of Vwang District, Jos South LGA, Da Gyang Balak. From what I was told, he was on his to his palace when some people blocked his vehicle and forcefully took him away around 8 pm last night”.
The lawmaker who condemned the abduction of the traditional ruler noted that his kidnapping was the second of such incidents in the community in recent times.
He said,” We have a problem at hand in Plateau state regarding kidnapping and abduction of the citizens. The area where they kidnapped the traditional ruler in Vwang District is the same place where another resident was kidnapped about two weeks ago and a ransom of N1m was paid to the kidnappers before they released the young man.
“As lawmakers elected by the people to represent them at the 9th Plateau Assembly, we have done what we are supposed to do to address the problem by passing the anti-kidnapping bill into law which was subsequently signed by Governor Simon Lalong. But who has been tried in plateau state using that law?.
“It’s just there lying in waste while the people continue to cry over their plight in the hands of abductors. I believe that the government which has the duty to arrest and prosecute those responsible for kidnapping but fails to do it knows what it is doing.
“In Katsina state, over 200 people were killed and nobody said anything. The truth is that the people of Plateau state and indeed Nigerians have entered ‘one chance’ government and unless this Government is booted out of power, the people may continue to suffer the same fate.”
The Military Information Officer of Operation Safe Haven, Major Ishaku Takwa, who also confirmed the kidnap of the traditional ruler said, “Troops of Operation SAFE HAVEN in conjunction with other security agencies are on trail of the kidnappers. God’s willing, the security agencies will soon close-up on the criminals”.
Meanwhile, REPORTERS AT LARGE recently reported that hundreds of people from Nahuche village of Bungudu local government area of Zamfara State staged a peaceful demonstration as bandits continue to attack the community daily despite paying N200m as ransom.
The protesters, who besieged the Government House Gusau on Sunday lamenting how they paid the ransom money as well as for settling allowances of the vigilante groups in the community, called on both the Federal and Zamfara State governments to come to their aid.
