It was all tears yesterday, at the home of the Kpaakpas, following the abduction of their two children, Philomena Kpaakpa, 4, and Benedict Kpaakpa, 2, after church service on Sunday in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
  
The Guardian gathered that the incident occurred after mass service at the St Peter’s Catholic Church Makurdi, the Benue State capital. The children were said to have patronised a female hawker hovering around the church’s premises.
  
The Guardian gathered that the children followed the hawker, who claimed not to have ‘change’, to get their balance, while their mother walked in front only to realise too late that her children were no longer behind her.
 
A frantic search proved futile, as both the hawker and children had disappeared into thin air, and were nowhere to be found. The father of the children works with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Wurukum, Makurdi.
 
When journalists visited the home of the stolen children, neighbours and sympathisers surrounded the weeping mother, who was too distraught and grief-stricken to answer any question. Spokesperson for Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene, said that the matter has not been officially reported to the police.

MEANWHILE, Governor Hyacinth Alia of Benue State has condemned the abduction of the state’s Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mathew Abo, and Mr Iorwashima Erukaa, father of Channels Television presenter Charles Erukaa.
 
Though both incidents occurred in Ukum Local Council of Benue State, they were, however, kidnapped separately.  While Erukaa was kidnapped on Saturday, the Commissioner was abducted on Sunday night.
 
Although details of the kidnap of Erukaa senior, who resides in Gboko, and was only on a visit to his hometown, remain sketchy, eyewitness account revealed that the kidnappers, who abducted the Benue information commissioner, stormed his house on four motorcycles.
  
According to the witness, the kidnappers ordered everyone in the house, including the commissioner’s wife and children to lie face down before they took him away.
 
The witnesses said that the abductors sandwiched the commissioner on one of the motorcycles, and zoomed off, as they fired sporadically into the air to scare away people.
 
It could not, however, be ascertained if the two incidents were carried out by same group or separate groups. Reacting to the incidents, Governor Alia described the abductions as “barbaric, condemnable and unacceptable.”
 
The commissioner was sworn in as a member of the Benue State Executive Council on August 29, while Erukaa was a one-time chairman of Ukum Local Council where the abductions took place.
 
Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Tersoo Kula, in a statement yesterday, said the governor has already detailed security agencies to immediately commence operations to ensure the safe release of the duo.
 
At press time, Charles Erukaa’s phone line was switched off, while his family members were reluctant to comment on the matter.  The Guardian, however, gathered that the kidnappers have made contact with the family of Erukaa, but are yet to make contact with Commissioner Abo’s family.