Union leader kidnapped after midnight service in Delta

The joy associated with the New Year celebrations was yesterday cut short for residents of Abraka in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, as kidnappers whisked away a senior staffer of the Delta State University (DELSU), Mr. Martins Denedo.
Denedo, a Chartered Accountant and current Treasurer, Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Universities, DELSU branch, was seized by about eight gunmen at the gate of his residence at about 1:00a.m. The victim and members of his family were returning from the church after the New Year midnight service, when the hoodlums, who had laid ambush in an uncompleted building, swooped on them.
“When we stopped to open the gate so that we could drive in, about eight men carrying different kinds of guns stopped us. They ordered us out of the car and started shooting sporadically to scare away any form of resistance,” a distraught brother to the victim, Paschal narrated. He said the hoodlums later sandwiched his brother into his (victim) own Nissan Pathfinder Sports Utility Vehicle with registration number BKW 18 AA and zoomed-off to unknown destination.
Paschal informed that the matter had been reported at the police station in the area, adding that the bandits were yet to make contacts with the family. Public Relations Officer of the state police command, ASP Famous Ajieh could not be reached to confirm the incident, but sources close to his office told Daily Sun that the police were already on the trail of the hoodlums.
Meanwhile, residents in the area said they were now living in fear, as the university community had become a haven of sorts for criminals, who terrorise the area, particularly during the yuletide. They called on relevant authorities to intensify the security in the area, so that residents could live in peace and sleep with both eyes closed.