A journalist with popular Nigerian news television platform, Channels TV, has been abducted by some unknown gunmen in Imo State.
It was gathered that the victim, Tope Kutiyi, was kidnapped in the early hours of Monday, April 11, 2016, at his residence in Federal Housing Estate, Umuguma.
It is still unclear why Kutiyi, who is Channels TV’s correspondent in Imo State, was kidnapped by the hoodlums.
However, it was learnt that the gunmen scaled through the fence of his residence and whisked him away to an unknown destination.
Commissioner of Police in the state, Taiwo Lakanu, who confirmed the development, noted that his men are already at work to unravel those behind the crime.
Also, the Chief Press Secretary, CPS, to Governor Rochas Okorocha, Sam Onwuemeodo, disclosed that, “The young man is only a reporter who cannot be said to have been kidnapped because of money.”
He said “only those behind the act know why they decided to inconvenience the reporter and his family.”
He urged “those holding the reporter” to “please release him to reunite with his family.”
According to him, “A reporter cannot afford to pay any ransom. To some of us, he may have been a victim of mistaken identity.”
He pointed out that Kutiyi must have been abducted “to blackmail the state government, having been heavily commended for fighting and reducing cases of kidnapping and other heinous crimes in the state to the nearest minimum.”
