Some 24 hours after kidnappers abducted four members of Amaigbo Town Union executives, the hoodlums have yet to make contact with anyone. Amaigbo is the headquarters of Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State.

An eyewitness told  the News Agency of Nigeria, NAN, that the bandits, whose number could not be immediately ascertained “because they were many.’’ The eye witness said: “On Saturday afternoon, the hoodlums stormed Amaigbo Town Hall (Obi Igbo) where a meeting of the community was holding.

“They swooped on the hall brandishing their guns and demanding the identities of the officials.

“But before anyone could say a word, they marched some of those sitting at the high table to their vehicle and sped off  while shooting sporadically into the air.

“The kidnappers also killed one man who apparently stood in their escape route at Umuchoke village in the town,’’ he added.

The abducted persons were the union’s President-General, Mr Kenneth Eso; First Vice-President, retired Maj. Dan Azubuike; Second Vice-President, Mr Chukwudi Onwu, and Treasurer, Mr Okey Anyiam.

The meeting was said to have been convened to discuss the burial arrangements of the traditional ruler of the community, Eze Wilfred Nwosu, who died about six months ago, as well as  some developments in the local government’s administration.

He said the whereabouts of the victims had yet to be ascertained and that the hoodlums had yet to make any contact with anyone.

He also added that some survivors of the raid immediately reported the matter at Amaigbo Police Station, which is less than a kilometre from the scene.

When contacted on Saturday, Mr Linus Nwaiwu, the Police Public Relations Officer  in Imo, said he had yet to receive such a report.