Professor Gabriel Ikpi, the Deputy Vice Chancellor, Academics, in the Cross River University of Technology, CRUTECH, was yesterday evening shot by unknown persons who attempted to abduct him,www.calitown.com can reveal.
Security operatives who spoke with www.calitown.com are insisting that the suspects attempted the kidnap so a ransom can be collected. Luck was on the side of the Agric Professor as he successfully fought his abductors, escaping in the end with a gunshot to his leg. He is believed to be traumatized, in hospital and stable.
Similarly, a teenage girl (name withheld) was also kidnapped, drugged and later abandoned on the Murtala Muhammad highway yesterday, Thursday. When www.calitown.com spoke to her father late yesterday evening, he revealed that his daughter, who attends the West African Peoples Institute, Calabar, was abducted on her way back from school. “They were two men and a lady in the vehicle when she taken. They drugged her and later abandoned her on the highway”, the victim’s father said. Passersby are said to have come to her rescue before her parents were contacted. It was impossible to speak with the victim for obvious medical reasons.
While residents of Calabar appear to be getting over a spate of daredevil robberies and kidnappings that rocked the city several weeks ago, the latest incidents appear to point to a resurgence in criminal activities. “Things are very difficult and the light hearted are turning to crime as a way out but I can assure you that those who have taken to this option have got it all wrong”, one cleric who doesn’t want his name in print, said.
Security operatives have been alerted to these recent incidents and an immediate response is following, a source in the office of Cross River State Security Adviser informed us.