At least 15 passengers, including women and children, are reportedly missing following an attack on an-18 seater bus travelling from Zaki Biam in Benue State to Maihula in Bali Local Government Area of Taraba State, on Tuesday.
The Chairman, Doonga Local Government Council, Ezra Voka, where the attack took place, confirmed the incident to journalists on phone, but could not provide details as he said he was already in the nearby forest in search of the victims.
“Please my friend, I’m already in the bush in search of the missing people; I can’t talk much now until I get more information from here,” Voka stated.
However, Daily Sun gathered that the heavily armed men suspected to be members of a vigilance group, attacked the bus at Gamkwe village, located at Maraban-Baisa in Donga local government area of the state, while the bus was heading to its destination in Bali local government area of the state.
The driver of the bus, Mpuuga Mbaave, who escaped the scene of the incident with machete wounds, told journalists on phone that the armed vigilance members were in large numbers with guns, machetes and other light arms.
“I loaded 18 passengers from Zaki Biam, and was heading to Maihula, in Bali. Immediately after Maraba, I saw many people in vigilance uniforms, there were many. I suspected something was wrong and I stopped, but one of the villagers said I should go. He said two members of the vigilance group were killed by kidnappers, that was why they gathered.
“As I moved closer, some members of the vigilance group started shouting, “kill all of them, it’s their people that killed our members”, and they started attacking the passengers and cutting them with machetes.
“They removed all of us, forced us to lie with our faces down. My bus engine was still on. When I discovered that it was getting out of hand, I decided to jump into the bus and left the passengers and my conductor followed me. All of us were cut with machetes and we were bleeding. That was how we escaped and left the passengers in their hands,” Mpuuga revealed.
The Police Public Relations Officer of the Taraba State Police Command, SP Usman Abdullahi, could not be reached at the time of this report, as his verified MTN line was said to be switched off.
