Some gunmen on Saturday kidnapped a former governorship aspirant in the 2019 election in Plateau State, Nkemi Nicholas Nshe.

Nshe is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, who served as Chairman of Shendam Local Government Area of the state at different periods in the past.

He was kidnapped at his residence in the council area in the early hours of New Year’s Day, Punch reports.

One of Nshe’s associates in Shendam, who lamented the abduction of the former council boss, said the incident was causing tension in the area.

He said, “Please join us in praying for the release of Dr Nkemi Nshe who was forcefully kidnapped from his Shendam residence in the early hours of Saturday being the New Year day, January 1, 2022. It was in the night that the gunmen came to his house and whisked him away. They did not go with his phone.

“The incident is rather unfortunate. We don’t know where they have taken him to. But yesterday evening (Saturday), I learnt that the kidnappers called the family members through the phone number of the son and demanded N100million ransom which they later reduced to N50million.

“Where will they get that kind of money when people are just suffering everywhere? It baffles me why the Federal Government through the Minister of Communications and Digital Economy would make Nigerians go through hard experiences by subjecting them to SIM card registration and yet, this kind of thing would be happening without the perpetrators being apprehended. 

“What is the relevance of that registration exercise? Where are we going in this country in this kind of situation? We pray that the former council chairman be released safely because he has done nothing to warrant his abduction.”

The abduction comes barely 24 hours after kidnappers released a traditional ruler in the neighbouring central zone of the state, Charles Mato Dakat.

Before his release, the traditional ruler was abducted by gunmen at his palace in the Gindiri community, Mangu Local Government Area last Sunday around 1:00am.

He spent five days in the hands of the kidnappers who demanded N500 lmillion ransom.

Though troops of the military taskforce in charge of maintaining peace in the state otherwise known as Operation Safe Haven, said they arrested eight persons in connection with the kidnap of the monarch, they were unable to disclose if any ransom was eventually paid to secure his freedom.