A student has been abducted and a woman tragically killed by a stray bullet in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State.
The incident occurred on Wednesday night, 5th February 2025, along the polytechnic road.
Doris Jonathan Oke (pictured above), a Higher National Diploma Mass Communication student at Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku, was taken by gunmen who appear to have initially targeted a man travelling with her. Local sources report that the gunmen ambushed their vehicle, opening fire. While the man escaped into the bush, Ms Oke was unable to flee and was abducted.
One resident described the scene as “like a war zone,” with people running for safety. A ransom of N10 million has reportedly been demanded.
Tragically, another local source confirmed that a woman was killed by a stray bullet during the attack, and a man was injured.
“During the shooting, a stray bullet killed a woman who owns a shop under the power line and one man was also hit by a bullet in the leg before abducting the girl,” the source added.
The Chairman of the Ogwashi-Uku vigilante group, Mr Hery Chukwuka, confirmed both the abduction and the fatality, stating that the vehicle involved, a Lexus 330, is now at the Ogwashi-Uku police station.
However, police spokesperson Bright Edafe stated that while there was an attempted kidnapping and the vehicle was recovered, they could not definitively confirm the student’s abduction.
He explained that the man who escaped had abandoned his car and that police efforts to contact him had been unsuccessful.
Mr Edafe added: “There was an attempted kidnapping and the man ran away and abandoned his car. We have recovered the car at the police station. We have been calling the number of the man but it’s switched off. If we see him, he will be able to explain what happened.”
