Delta State Commissioner for Education kidnapped

Delta state Commissioner for Higher Education, Professor Hope Eghagha has been seized by unidentified gunmen. He was kidnapped Sunday morning near the state capital, Asaba, southsouth Nigeria. Reports said one of his body guards was killed during the incident, though Eghagha was abducted unharmed. Eghagha was a lecturer at the University of Lagos, southwest Nigeria, before he was appointed commissioner by Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan of Delta state.



Prof. Eghagha was reportedly kidnapped along Abraka/Agbor Road on his way to Asaba from his village, Ughile when his abductors allegedly intercepted the vehicle in which he was traveling at Owa-Ekei highway junction, in Ika North-East local government area. His police orderly whose name could not be ascertained was killed in the process, while his driver sustained bullet wounds. Investigations revealed that the gunmen apparently trailed the Commissioner from Warri to his home village, Ughile, where they patiently waited for him to attend to his people.

It was said that the gunmen fired several shots into his car, one of which appeared to have killed the police orderly on the spot before escaping with Eghagha to an unknown destination. When Newsmen visited the scene of crime, the body of Eghagha’s police orderly was still in the pool of his own blood, and the bullet-riddled car of the Commissioner was still there, while the driver was said to have been rushed to an Agbor Hospital. Delta State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Charles Muka confirmed the incident, adding that the police command has begun a manhunt for the kidnappers.