{"id":68817,"date":"2025-06-23T15:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/?p=68817"},"modified":"2025-06-23T15:00:51","modified_gmt":"2025-06-23T15:00:51","slug":"gunmen-abduct-12-from-benue-links-bus-one-passenger-escapes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/2025\/06\/23\/gunmen-abduct-12-from-benue-links-bus-one-passenger-escapes\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunmen Abduct 12 From Benue Links Bus, One Passenger Escapes"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Adenike Lawal<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Twelve passengers traveling in a Benue Links commercial bus were abducted on Sunday evening by armed men near Eke, along the Ugbokolo-Otukpo road in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State.<\/p>\n<p>The bus, en route to Makurdi from Abeokuta, was attacked around 6:30 p.m. Eyewitnesses said the gunmen ambushed the vehicle, robbed the passengers, and marched them into a nearby forest.<\/p>\n<p>One passenger managed to escape and reported the incident at the Eke Police Station, prompting a swift response from security forces.<\/p>\n<p>Benue Links Nigeria Limited confirmed the attack in a statement, revealing that the bus, with registration number 14B-143BN, was later found abandoned with some personal items left behind. The driver and 11 passengers remain missing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is an extremely regrettable incident,\u201d said company spokesperson Johnson Ehi. \u201cWe\u2019re working closely with security agencies to ensure the safe return of those abducted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Benue State Police Command also confirmed the abduction. Police spokesperson DSP Udeme Edet said joint security forces, including the military and Benue State Community Volunteer Guards, have launched a manhunt.<\/p>\n<p>One of the victims, identified as Paul Terns, was rescued after escaping from his captors during the operation.<\/p>\n<p>Security has been reinforced in the area as the search continues. The incident adds to growing concerns over rising insecurity on Nigeria\u2019s highways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Adenike Lawal Twelve passengers traveling in a Benue Links commercial bus were abducted on Sunday evening by armed men near Eke, along the Ugbokolo-Otukpo road in Okpokwu Local Government Area of Benue State. The bus, en route to Makurdi from Abeokuta, was attacked around 6:30 p.m. Eyewitnesses said the gunmen ambushed the vehicle, robbed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":68818,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-crime"],"aioseo_notices":[],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68817"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68817\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68819,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68817\/revisions\/68819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68818"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abujacityjournal.com\/livenews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}