Musa Umar, the district head of Daura, has been kidnapped by four unidentified gunmen.

Daura in Katsina State is the hometown of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Mr Buhari is in London on a ‘private visit’ for an undisclosed reason.

Kidnappings across Nigeria have been rife in recent months despite the efforts of security agencies.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the kidnappers stormed Mr Umar’s Daura residence at 7 p.m. on Wednesday and sporadically shot into the air, scaring the hell out of bystanders, who scampered for safety.

Mr Umar had just returned from the mosque where he took part in the evening prayer when the incident happened.

He was sitting in front of his house with some people when the armed men came.

A witness told the News Agency of Nigeria that the kidnappers came in a Peugeot 406 saloon car.

After the gunmen left, the Daura council chairman, Abba Mato, and hundreds of sympathisers came to Mr Umar’s residence, to discuss the bewildering incident.

Mr Umar’s kidnap occurred days after the chairman of a government agency, UBEC, and his daughter was kidnapped. Both of them were freed a day later.