Gunmen on Friday abducted the chairperson of the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, Prof. George Chima, from his residence in Okigwe in Imo State, Nigeria’s South-east.
According to PREMIUM TIMES, Prof Chima was having a meeting with some lecturers from Abia State University, Uturu, in his residence when the hoodlums, numbering about four, attacked him.
The attackers, suspected to be kidnappers, were said to have chased the visitors before abducting the professor.
Okigwe, a local government in Imo State, shares boundaries with Uturu, a community in Abia State.
The two areas are a few miles apart from each other.
The police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, reportedly confirmed the development.
Mr Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, said the Commissioner of Police in the state had ordered an operation to track down the abductors and rescue the victim.
“We will catch the kidnappers,” he vowed.
Like other states in the South-east, cases of abduction-for-ransom in Imo State have increased in recent times.
Civil servants, business owners, politicians and even students have become targets of such attacks in the state lately.
Meanwhile, no group has claimed responsibility for the latest abduction of Mr Chima, although a separatist group, IPOB, has been blamed for the frequent attacks in the region.
IPOB is seeking the secession of the South-east and some parts of the South-south from Nigeria.
