Residents of Enugu metropolis can no longer shake off an eerie feeling of déjà vu as daily reports of kidnappings within and around town make the rounds.

Our findings suggest that while some of the stories have been busted as fake news, a few others turned out to be quite true.

Two kidnap incidents, one involving an adolescent and the other a man and his wife, reinforced this feeling today among citizens.

In the first, a former local government chairman of Enugu East sent out a distress social media call on his daughter whom he suspected to have been kidnapped on her way to market.

Outside Enugu, on the Enugu-Awka highway, the president General of Ibite Olo community, Chief Ernest Otugo with his wife and a friend travelling in their Toyota Venza car were kidnapped by gun-toting bandits.

The bandits took Otugo, his wife and friend and disappeared into the bush, leaving Otugo’s children in their bullet-riddled car.

There were also reports this week that another Catholic reverend was shot at Enugu East LGA by bandits suspected to be herdsmen. There has been no independent confirmation of this incident.

However, Chief Frank Anioma, former Caretaker Chairman of Enugu East Local Government, this morning took to his Facebook page to put out a distress call in behalf of his daughter, Kosisochukwu, who he said was abducted on her way to the New Haven Market.

Kosisochukwu, missing and presumed kidnapped

“Her phone was ringing without response; now it’s ringing line busy,” said the distraught parent.

By this evening, it was reported that Otugo’s wife was released so that she could go and source for an undisclosed huge sum of money to ransom her husband and his friend.

There has been no independent confirmation of these crimes, which has dominated social media discussions since yesterday.

Updated

The girl, Kosisochukwu Anioma, has been found.

There are conflicting reports about where she was found and what actually happened to her.

Friends of the girl’s father say she was found alive in Okigwe and that they are gathering in their GRA residence to thank God and party in celebration.

The Enugu Police Command, however, took to Twitter to say that the kidnap story was fake and that the young girl sneaked into Owerri, Imo State, to be with her school boyfriend.

The Command said the girl is with the Enugu Police. The Command subsequently published pictures of the girl writing a statement, as well as a video conversation with the Police where she admitted that she sneaked out of their Enugu GRA residence to meet her school boyfriend in Owerri, Imo State, almost 200km away.

Mr. Anioma has been heavily censored in the social media for acting inappropriately.

“The thing to do if you suspect your daughtet has been kidnapped is to wait for the inevitable ransom demand. If your child is suspected to be missing, you report to the police and probably wait for 48 hours before making the matter public,” a lawyer gave his opinion to EMetro News.

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