The Kaduna State Government has denied reports of scores being kidnapped in a community a few kilometres from Kagarko on the Kaduna-Abuja road.
Refuting the kidnap reports in a newspaper publication earlier Friday morning, Samuel Aruwan, the Commissioner, Ministry of Internal Security and Home Affairs in a statement said the report was misleading, untrue and unfounded.
He said contrary to the report, briefs received from security agencies and the Kagarko Local Government Council indicated that armed men barricaded the Gwaje village axis of the Kagarko-Jere Road on Wednesday 5th April 2023, and kidnapped an unspecified number of occupants from two vehicles, a Volkswagen Golf Wagon (Reg No. LGT228XA) and Volkswagen Passat (Reg No. FSK556AV).
The vehicles were subsequently found empty.
The statement further said the coordinates of the scene of the incident (Gwaje village) are 9°29’34″N 7°39’18″E, which gives a location nowhere close to, or even off the Abuja-Kaduna Highway as reported.
He said the incident did not occur at Iche as reported by the media, adding that the description which gives Kagarko town as being along the Abuja-Kaduna highway is likewise inaccurate.
“The Kaduna State Government expresses its displeasure over the misleading piece of reportage which has unfortunately gained undue traction on social media and beyond,” Aruwan said
It said the government views the inaccurate and misleading reports as a major disservice to the campaign against banditry being prosecuted by officers and men of security forces, at the risk of their very lives.
