Gunmen abduct Lebanese in Niger Delta

A Lebanese national was abducted on Sunday after
some gunmen who mounted a roadblock attacked
his van in central Nigeria’s Niger State, a security
source told Xinhua Monday.
The Lebanese, a construction engineer simply
identified as Rody, was kidnapped near Ekila
village, some kilometers away from Minna, the
Niger State capital, the security source who was
not authorised to speak to the media on the
development, said.
According to the source, the Lebanese was on his
way to a construction site where his company,
Enerco Nigeria Limited, was executing a
construction project when the incident happened.
A local police officer on patrol duty in the area said
a driver identified as Isaiah Entait, attached to the
Lebanese, and two civil servants were taken along
by the abductors.
The duo, identified as Salihu Mustapha and Hamidu
Usman, worked with the Niger State ministry of
works and infrastructural development, the police
officer said, adding investigation had commenced
on the whereabouts of the kidnappers.
According to local sources, the kidnappers were
yet to make any contact since the incident on
Sunday evening. The incident occurred on the
same day Nigeria’s secret police said it had
arrested more than 20 kidnap kingpins across the
West African country.
Kidnapping — often for ransom — is one of the
major security problems in Nigeria, Africa’s most
populous country. Expatriates, whose firms can
pay the ransom, are usually released by their
abductors unhurt.