Gunmen abduct Abia electoral commission chairperson

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Gunmen have abducted the chairperson of the Abia State Independent Electoral Commission, George Chima.

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Mr Chima, a professor, was abducted on Friday from his residence in Okigwe in Imo State, Nigeria’s South-east.

The chairperson, sources said, was having a meeting with some lecturers from Abia State University, Uturu, in his residence when the hoodlums, numbering about four, attacked him.

The attackers, suspected to be kidnappers, were said to have chased the visitors before abducting the professor.

Okigwe, a local government in Imo State, shares boundaries with Uturu, a community in Abia State.

The two areas are a few miles apart from each other.

Police speak

When contacted on Friday evening, the police spokesperson in Imo State, Henry Okoye, confirmed the development to PREMIUM TIMES.

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Mr Okoye, a deputy superintendent of police, said the Commissioner of Police in the state has ordered operation to track down the abductors and rescue the victim.

“We will catch the kidnappers,” he vowed.

READ ALSO: Police seek help to identify corpse of man killed by gunmen

Abduction-for-ransom

Like other states in the South-east, cases of abduction-for-ransom in Imo State have increased in recent times.

Civil servants, business owners, politicians and even students have become targets of such attacks in the state lately.

Meanwhile, no group has claimed responsibility for the latest abduction of Mr Chima, although a separatist group, IPOB, has been blamed for the frequent attacks in the region.

IPOB is seeking the secession of the South-east and some parts of the South-south from Nigeria.