Community sources told the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, on Monday in Ogwashi-Uku that the incident occurred last Tuesday, about 8.45 p.m in the victim’s residence, along Isah Road in the community.

According to a woman, who lived close to Ugbo’ house, the operation was carried out by heavily-armed gunmen, who invaded Ugbo’s residence and took him away at gunpoint.

“The gunmen were heavily armed and were dressed like security agents. They laid siege in an uncompleted building close to his house, and waited.

“Ugbo went out and was just returning to his house, when they suddenly swooped on him as his wife came out to open the front door for him.

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“The gunmen fired several shots into the air, before marching their victim into the darkness on foot, just as Ugbo’s wife wailed, begging the gunmen to release her husband.

“Many of us who live close-by, watched the incident from afar. We thought the gunmen were security agents.

“Since the incident, the kidnappers have called his wife twice, demanding the sum of One hundred million naira as ransom for Ugbo’s freedom,” said the woman, who pleaded anonymity.

When contacted, the spokesman of the Police Command in Delta, SP Bright Edafe, confirmed the incident, saying the police have launched a manhunt for the kidnappers.

“The police is aware of the kidnapping of Mr Ugbo. We are on the trail of the kidnappers and equally making serious efforts to rescue the victim,” Edafe said.

Source: NAN

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The spokesperson of the command, SP Irene Ugbo, confirmed the incident on Sunday.

She said that the policeman acted strangely before the shootings.

Ugbo said the officer, who was  attached to Atakpa Divisional Police Station, had returned from a night beat at a microfinance bank before the shootings.

She, however, said the police had arrested the suspect while the two injured victims were receiving medical attention.

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It was gathered that the officer started behaving strangely when he returned from night duty.

“He blocked the gate of the station and refused everyone exit and entry into the facility.

“All efforts to disarm him through peaceful dialogue proved abortive.

“Tactical teams were mobilised to the scene, and he became apprehensive and started shooting sporadically.

“In the process, he shot three persons, including the deceased aged 41 years and wife of a retired police officer as well as two others,” a source said.

Source: NAN

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The passengers, who were on a transit, were said to have been ambushed by gunmen who shot at their vehicles, injuring three while unspecified number was taken away by the gunmen.

Spokesperson of the command, SP Irene Ugbo, who gave the confirmation, however, declined to give details of the attack, but said the incident occurred on Sunday.

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Ugbo said efforts were on to secure the release of the abducted passengers and also ensure no repeat of the incident in the area.

A resident of the community, Mr James Ese, said the three injured persons were rushed to an undisclosed hospital for medical attention.

Ese said that the Akparabong Junction had become a nightmare for motorists and commuters in the last three weeks.

While alleging herdsmen to be responsible for the almost daily attack on the road, he called on security agencies to be alive to their responsibilities.

“We want the police to rise up to the challenge and end this menace to passengers in the last three weeks.

“This particular area of the Nde 3 Corners Akparabong Junction has become a bloodbath spot owing to kidnapping activities with over four deaths, including a baby, recorded this past weeks,” he said.

Source: NAN

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Police spokesperson in the state, SP Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the arrest, stated that the gang was responsible for the abduction of the wife of a popular vehicles dealer in Calabar.

They released their kidnap victim after collecting ransom, Ugbo stated.

She added that the suspects already made confessional statements to the police and would be arraigned upon conclusion of investigation.

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“Luck ran out on the duo as the police tracked the owner of the bank account into which they received the ransom.

“The suspects never knew that they were being trailed. We are happy that two out of four of them have been apprehended,’’ she stated.

Ugbo added that locally-made pistols, ammunition, phones and other valuable items were recovered from the duo.

She warned members of the public against sharing of their bank details with others as such details could be used for fraud or for other illicit dealings.

Source: NAN

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An aide to the traditional ruler was shot dead in the process of the kidnapping.

The spokesperson of the state Police Command, SP Irene Ugbo, confirmed the incident but said details were unknown to her as at press time.

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A source, however, said the traditional ruler’s aide was killed as he tried to prevent his principal from being abducted.

Akpabuyo, notorious for criminal activities, is less than 15 kilometres from Calabar, the capital city of the state.

Meanwhile, Prof Patrick Egaga of the University of Calabar, UNICAL, has been released by his abductors after 26 days in captivity.

Egaga who is UNICAL’s Director of Servicom, was abducted in the institution’s staff quarters after which his abductors demanded a ransom of N50 million.

Calabar and its environs have witnessed increase in cases of abduction in the past few months.

The targets for abduction are usually lecturers, lawyers, medical doctors, clergymen and high profile individuals.

Source: NAN

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The commitment was declared on Monday in Lagos by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer of the company, Mr. Chiedu Ugbo, during a “Light up Nigeria” campaign.

He described as one of the challenges facing the company, the about N190 billion it is being owed.

According to him, the non-payment of the debt had so far negatively affected the speed at which the company would have improved power services in the country.

He said, however, that the company would continue with the goal to “Light Up Nigeria.”

His words: “There is also low invoice payment for energy generated to the grid. There is huge indebtedness by the market to NDPHC in hundreds of billions for unpaid invoices. NDPHC is also not paid for availability but only as dispatched thereby depriving NDPHC of hundreds of billions since 2015 when transitional electricity market (TEM) was declared.”

Noting that NDPHC also owed some stakeholders, Ugbo said the federal government under President Bola Tinubu had taken a soft and citizens-oriented approach by not increasing tariffs but assured that it would find a way to address the shortfalls in payment as per the actual consumption and the tariff.

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Ugbo added: “To reasonably resolve the challenges to power plants’ operations and increase electricity supply to homes and businesses, NDPHC’s Light-up Nigeria initiative is to explore not only the opportunities under the Eligible Customer Regulations and Electricity Act 2023 but also bilateral power sales in collaboration with Discos and other bulk purchasers under trading arrangements will ensure that investment is mobilized for end-to-end solutions that will guarantee that electricity is delivered to customers and NDPHC is paid for the electricity generated.

“At the core of NDPHC’s initiatives is to prioritise high-value power sale opportunities with bulk purchasers and Discos, which under Nigerian Electricity Supply Industry (NESI) have significant power supply demands across their franchise areas. The rationale for this approach is that projects delivered in collaboration with these potential bulk purchasers are likely to generate significantly greater volumes of power sales under bankable arrangements.”

He stated that the NDPHC was the implementing entity for the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP.

He noted that NDPHC commenced the design and development of 10 NIPP power plants in 2006.

Eight of the power plants, according to him, had since been completed and were mostly operational.

Two (Egbema and Omoku), he said, were yet to be commissioned.

Alaoji’s gas turbines (4 units), according to him, had been commissioned while its steam turbine was under construction.

He stated that the achievements of NDPHC’s operations were hampered by a number of systemic challenges which had significantly affected its cash flow but which put differently presented good private investment opportunities.

According to him, the challenges also presented opportunities for investments.

On the transmission constraints, he identified inadequate transmission and distribution grid capacity to evacuate energy generated from the power plants as a challenge.

He noted that in 2022, transmission and distribution available capacity was estimated at about 5,500MW.

He, however, said that NDPHC was currently allocated a maximum dispatch space of 975MW (peak period) and 757MW at off-peak (despite often substantially mechanically available).

Ugbo said: “Talking more about constraints, evacuation limitation is further exacerbated by systems operations frequent start-up and shut down instructions to the plants ostensibly for frequency and load control to ensure system safety and reliability, but resulting in increased turbine stress, more unscheduled outages and significant maintenance costs.

“Another challenge is gas supply and transportation constraints. There is unavailability of sufficient volumes of gas to guarantee generation up to Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) allocated evacuation capacity of 975MW let alone full capacity of its power plants.

“Calabar is the only plant with full gas supply. Plants in western axis require about 150MMSCF/day to meet TCN-allocated evacuation capacity 535MW (Peak).

“Gas supply to western axis power plants is further challenged by low pressure on NGIC gas pipelines –ELPS & Oben-Ajaokuta. Gas suppliers want higher gas tariff beyond industry approved gas tariff ($2.50 vs. $2.18).”

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He was abducted on Sunday.

Egaga who is a professor at the department of Special Education in the institution was said to have been abducted at his residence.

The Police command in Cross River which confirmed the abduction in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, in Calabar on Monday, said that action had been initiated to secure his release.

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The command’s spokesperson, SP Irene Ugbo, who confirmed the incident,  said that though the family didn’t report the incident, they (police) were working to secure his release.

The institution’s spokesperson, Mr Effiong Eyo, also said the university learnt of the abduction on Monday morning.

The gunmen were said to have whisked the don away through the river that overlooked the university’s staff quarters.

It was gathered that they also came in through the same river that connects Calabar to Akpabuyo local government area of the state.

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An eye-witness, who narrated the incident, said the boy identified as Eyo, had been known for petty stealing around the area and had been warned on several occasions to desist from such.

The eye-witness, who pleaded anonymity, said that the boy committed the offence on Saturday and disappeared into thin air only to reappear on Sunday.

“I have known Eyo from secondary school, he has always been stealing, there was a time he stole half of the class school fees.

“Even as we grew into our 20s, Eyo became audacious in stealing and more notorious, he was always caught stealing, this is not the first time a mob action was carried out on him, he only met his end today.

“They started by beating him with cutlass before setting him ablaze. Funny enough, it’s just for stealing an android phone,” he explained.

Meanwhile, Police command spokesperson in the state, SP Irene Ugbo, has confirmed the incident and decried the act.

While noting that it was unlawful for people to take laws into their hands, she said the rightful thing to do was to have reported the suspect to the nearest police station in the area.

“Killing him in the most gruesome manner through mob action is not only barbaric, it is illegal and unacceptable,” she stated.

Source: NAN

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The command spokesperson, SP Irene Ugbo, who addressed newsmen while parading them, said the suspects were caught with arms and ammunition during their arrest in Ogoja after the polls.

Ugbo stated that their arrest followed a diligent manhunt for those that disrupted some voting centres in the council area during the polls.

“You will recall that the command had issued several warnings to the people not to allow themselves be used by desperate politicians during the elections and that anyone caught will have himself to blame.

“These people you see here didn’t take our warning seriously and they are some of the people that tried to disrupt the elections in Ogoja last Saturday.

“They were caught with various arms and ammunition in Ogoja and they will be punished in accordance with the law of the land,” she stated.

The command spokesperson alleged that the suspects were found to have worked for a candidate during last Saturday’s elections.

Drama, however, ensued during the parade when some of the suspects said they were members of the All Progressives Congress, APC, and also members of vigilance group in their community in Obudu local government area.

They also stated that they were never arrested in Ogoja but in Obudu without knowledge of the offence they committed.

One of the suspects, Mr Francis Ubi, who claimed to be a coordinator of the APC in his polling unit in Obudu, explained how they were randomly picked by the soldiers in Obudu a day before the Presidential and National Assembly elections.

According to him, “We were brought here on trumped up charges. I do not belong to any group or political party other than the APC where I coordinate for my polling unit in Obudu.

“As I speak with you, over N500,000 was paid into my account to coordinate my unit during the elections and I am also a member of the vigilance group. I have five others of my members here who were also arrested.

“While I was arrested in my house in Obudu, others were arrested at a check point in Obudu while on duty.

“Where they were arrested was approved for us to be keeping security by the council chairman who also approved the use of specific guns for us.

“I don’t understand what is happening. Those that are being paraded with us I don’t know any of them and only came to meet them here as we are being paraded.

“We (Vigilance members) have been the one keeping Obudu safe because of the level of insecurity there in recent time. We don’t understand what we are being accused of.”

Ubi said that after his arrest, he was taken to army barracks at Ogoja where he spent days before they were brought to Police Command in Calabar on Friday.

Ugbo said that the suspects would be arraigned in court next week.

Source: NAN

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The gunmen who blocked the highway also shot and injured a popular evangelist in the state, Edim-Edim Omin.

The evangelist who managed to escape with bullet wounds, is said to be receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

The incident occurred barely 24 hours after the Police command in the state said it had deployed tactical teams to safeguard motorists plying the highway.

The command spokesperson, SP Irene Ugbo said that the four victims were abducted on Tuesday and pledged that the command would track the gunmen and rescue the victims.

“It is a sad reality for us and as I speak with you, the Commissioner of Police is heading to that axis to assess the situation of things himself,” she added.

Ugbo assured that the command would restore normalcy to the highway.

It would be recalled that no fewer than 20 persons were kidnapped along the Uyanga-Ikomita axis of the Calabar-Ogoja highway in the last two months.

Among those abducted were two medical doctors who were later released after an industrial action by the state chapter of the Nigeria Medical Association.

Source: NAN

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