Unidentified gunmen have abducted a Bayelsa State High Court Judge, Justice E. G. Umokoro, in front of a popular eatery known as Kilimanjaro, located opposite Ekeki Park in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital.
The incident, which happened at about 7pm on Saturday night, has caused panic among residents, and nearby shop owners fled in fear of gunfire or further violence.
Sources confirmed that the judge was with his two daughters and had stopped to buy bread when the kidnappers attacked. There was a brief struggle before the gunmen forced him into their vehicle and drove off.
Some lawyers in the state have expressed shock at the incident, describing it as a sad and disturbing development. The judge’s whereabouts remain unknown, and authorities have yet to confirm any leads.
Justice Umokoro, an activist judge, was a former state chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association. It was alleged that he had a brush with men of the Bayelsa Police Command over some judicial decisions involving the release of some notorious kidnappers on alleged technical grounds.
The judicial decision led to altercations between the outgoing leadership of the NBA, Yenagoa Branch, Barrister Somina Johnbull, and the present State Police Commissioner, Mr Francis Idu.
Eyewitnesses at the eatery and across at Ekeki Park confirmed that the abducted judge was trailed to the eatery by masked armed men, dressed in full police combatant regalia.
It was revealed that two of the men were seen coming down from the Nissan Hilux vehicle and tapping on the window of his SUV, which was rolled down by the judge, who was on a call with his mobile phone.
One eyewitness said he overheard the men telling the judge: “Our Oga wants to see you,” to which the judge replied: “Are you aware I am a judge? Tell your Oga to come and see me here.”
The two armed men were seen walking away from his vehicle and making some calls to an unknown person. Three of them later returned, knocked loudly on the judge’s car, forcefully opened the door and dragged him out.
In a viral video, the judge, who seemed offended, was seen struggling with the gunmen, while passers-by watched in amazement. He was eventually forced into the white Nissan Hilux vehicle after much struggle.
A worker at the eatery said, “We thought the gunmen were police or men of the DSS, but they were not carrying that funny Uzi rifle like the DSS, nor was their uniform written ‘Police’. But they wore black on black with bulletproof jackets like the men of the police. But after the real police arrived, many people now knew those other ones were kidnappers.”
He told newsmen that, amid the struggle, the abducted judge’s mobile phone and a pouch containing his identity cards, ATM cards and National ID card fell, as well as two mobile phones belonging to the abductors.
A police source at the Ekeki Divisional Headquarters corroborated the claims, insisting that a passer-by picked up the judge’s phone and handed it to the police.
When contacted about the development, the spokesman of the Bayelsa State Police Command, Mohammed Musa, confirmed it and said the command had started a discreet investigation into the incident.
The motive for the abduction remains unclear, and it is not known if the abductors have made any contact with the judge’s family or demanded ransom.
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