Panic as gunmen rob, abduct PUNCH reporters

By Akinwande Soji-Ojo

There was palpable apprehension among Abuja-based journalists over the weekend following the attack and abduction of two PUNCH Newspapers reporters, Solomon Odeniyi and Amarachi Orjiude, within 24 hours.

While Odeniyi was robbed around 2am on Saturday at his Lugbe residence, Orjiude was picked up by kidnappers in Chika, Lugbe, around 12pm on Sunday.

Narrating his ordeal to, Odeniyi noted that he was asleep after a downpour in the wee hours of Saturday when a gang of six armed robbers invaded his room apartment.

“They came in around 2am and they were with cutlasses; six in number. They ordered me to give them money. Initially, I didn’t want to give the money to them, but one of them hit my head with his machete and I gave them what I had.

“They kept asking for more. I gave them my two phones, an iPhone and a Tecno phone. Still, they kept cutting me with their machetes after which they ransacked my belongings and took some other things.

“They invaded close to 10 houses in our area in Chika; no one was killed, but quite a number of the people were robbed.”

Also, Orjiude, who spoke to The PUNCH, said that she was kidnapped along Chika-Aleyita, Lugbe, on her way from the city mall.

She said: “I saw a taxi and I went inside. There were three men and a woman with her baby. The woman and the baby alighted at some point. I didn’t notice anything out of place until they told me to bend down and they told me they’d hurt me if I dared to make a noise.

“They threatened to kill me if I failed to contact my people to make available a ransom of N300,000. I called my fiancé and they told him they’d hurt me if he refused to make the payment.

“At the end, they withdrew about N200,000 from my Union Bank account; they also withdrew money from my other accounts and went away with my phone.”