Published 17th Jan, 2022

By Gabriel Ogunjobi

Some unknown gunmen have kidnapped Da Gyang Balak Gut, the Da Gwom Rwdiei (traditional head) of Vwang District, Jos-South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The paramount ruler was whisked away within the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies in Kuru community while driving to his house around 8 pm on Sunday, according to PUNCH.

“I have just been informed of the kidnapping of one of our traditional rulers, Da Gwom Rwei of Vwang District, Jos South LGA, Da Gyang Balak,” Fom Gwattson, the lawmaker representing Jos South in the Plateau State House of Assembly was quoted to have said.

“From what I was told, he was on his way to his palace when some people blocked his vehicle and forcefully took him away around 8 pm last night.”

The lawmaker, who condemned the abduction of the traditional ruler, noted that his kidnapping was the second of such incidents in the community in recent times.

He said, “We have a problem at hand in Plateau state regarding kidnapping and abduction of the citizens. The area where they kidnapped the traditional ruler in Vwang District is the same place where another resident was kidnapped about two weeks ago and a ransom of one million naira was paid to the kidnappers before they released the young man.

“As lawmakers elected by the people to represent them at the 9th Plateau Assembly, we have done what we are supposed to do to address the problem by passing the anti-kidnapping bill into law, which was subsequently signed by Governor Simon Lalong. But who has been tried in Plateau state using that law?

“It’s just there lying in waste while the people continue to cry over their plight in the hands of abductors. I believe that the government which has the duty to arrest and prosecute those responsible for kidnapping but fails to do it knows what it is doing.

“In Katsina State, over 200 people were killed and nobody said anything. The truth is that the people of Plateau State and indeed Nigerians have entered a ‘one chance’ government and unless this government is booted out of power, the people may continue to suffer the same fate.”

Apart from the farmer-herder crises across different LGAs in the state, abduction is fast becoming a trend. In December 2021, the paramount ruler of Gindiriin Mangu LGA, Charles Dakat, was also abducted in his house under fiery gunfire.

He was later released after a ransom was allegedly paid to the abductors.

Gabriel Ubah, the spokesman of the state police, did not answer FIJ’s call or respond to the text message sent for updates on the abduction.

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