Gunmen have abducted a High Court judge, Joy Uwana, in Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria’s south-south region. Justice Uwana was abducted along a highway on Monday in Oron Local Government Area of the state by the gunmen who shot dead her police orderly.
The police spokesperson in Akwa Ibom Odiko MacDon has confirmed the abduction, according to a report by Channels TV. The judge was on her way home to Uyo after the court sitting in Oron when she was abducted.
“It’s very unfortunate,” Channels TV quoted Mr MacDon, a superintendent of police, as saying of the incident. Mr MacDon said the Commissioner of Police in Akwa Ibom, Olatoye Durusinmi, has ordered an investigation into the incident.
“As we speak, no stone will be left unturned, resources will be harnessed to ensure that Her Lordship is reunited with her family any moment from now. I have spoken with the family of the deceased officer who, until his death, was an orderly to the judge. Justice will be served, and the perpetrators will be brought to book,” the police spokesperson said.
Abduction for ransom is now one of the dominant crimes across various Nigerian cities. Politicians, entrepreneurs, and just anyone with good financial worth, including school children are easy targets. In August, gunmen abducted eight members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) along a highway in Zamfara State, Nigeria’s north-west region.
The corps members were travelling inside a bus from Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, to Sokoto State en route to Zamfara State, to take part in the mandatory national service when their vehicle was intercepted along a highway in Zamfara. Four of the abducted NYSC members have been freed while others are still in captivity, for about four months now.
In June last year, gunmen abducted a divisional police officer alongside other travellers along the Birnin Gwari Highway, Kaduna. The officer’s family paid N7 million ransom to his abductors who had demanded N20 million. The officer, Sani Mohammed, a chief superintendent of police, was later released by the gunmen.
