By Tony Boyden-
Two Canadian citizens and an American have been kidnapped in Northern Nigeria, after two police escorts in convoys were killed.
Scant information about the entire circumstances of the killing is available, but what is known is that the men were ambushed on Tuesday night by unknown gunmen around the town of Kagarko who were on their way back from the city of Kaduna and heading to the capital , Abuja. A journalist from Reuters first broke the story after being tipped her contacts.
The foreign nationals to Nigeria were on a business trip under the escort of two policemen when they were confronted by the armed gang who are believed to have been tipped about their whereabouts, a source in Abuja, Nigeria told The Eye Of Media.Com. The policemen engaged the armed men in a shoot out, but were both killed in the process whilst the robbers abducted the men from whom they expect to gain money.
Security officers were immediately sent to the area to catch the dangerous gang, but were not successful in their chase. Officials are in a race against time with roughly 24 hours gone already since the deadly attack on the cops. The identity of the two men have not yet been released, and the whereabouts of the abducted men is unknown. A statement by the State department said: “We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen kidnapped in Nigeria.
The safety and protection of U.S. citizens overseas are among our top priorities.” Concern for the safety of the two men is high and their identity is expected to be released on Thursday when Nigerian cops are expected to have more information about the incident.
Armed robbery in Nigeria is a common occurrence in many parts of the troubled country, but many of its inhabitants who have lived there for decades have never encountered an arm robbery. An anonymous insider in the Nigerian State Department told The Eye Of Media.Com that some parts of Nigeria have become increasingly dangerous to the extent that even individuals close to successful businessmen actively set them up in order to get huge sums of money and get a share of it. However, the man who insisted on being unnamed said ”Nigeria is a beautiful experience for anyone who doesn’t encounter armed robbers. The road between Abuja and Kaduna is notorious for kidnappers because of the number of affluent businessmen who use the road to get from one destination to the other. . Last February, two German archaeologists were abducted in the same area, but were later freed. Visitors are routinely warned about the dangers of kidnapping in Nigeria right from their plane trip to the country.