The Makurdi Chief Magistrates Court on Tuesday remanded seven men at the Makurdi Correctional Centre over the alleged kidnap of the Benue Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Ekpe Ogbu.
The men allegedly kidnapped the commissioner on December 4, 2022, on Ado/Otukpo Road.
The suspects were named Nuhu Musa, Mohammed Danjuma, Yunusa Usman, Abubakar Usman, Usman Saleh, Hamza Sani and Monday Samuel.
They were charged with criminal conspiracy, illegal possession of firearms, kidnapping and acts of terrorism. The presiding Chief Magistrate, Roseline Iyorshe, did not take their plea for want of jurisdiction.
Earlier, the prosecuting counsel, Jonah Uletu, told the court that the police received a report of the incident on December 31, 2022, from Operation Zenda Joint Task Force through a signal.
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He said the signal stated that operatives of Operation Zenda trailed and arrested the suspects following the kidnap of the commissioner on December 4, 2022.
He added that it was discovered that the suspects were members of a kidnap gang known to terrorise the Benue South district and that one Beretta pistol was found on them at the time of the arrest.
Mr Uletu said the suspects confessed to the crime voluntarily during the police investigation and that other members of the gang remained at large.
