One month after gunmen suspected to be hired assassins stormed Ebenezer African Church in Ibesikpo Asutan Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State and killed a former assistant zonal secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Mr. Paul Inyang, another attack was on Sunday launched at the God’s Own Ministry International in Uyo, the state capital.


The state Director of Housing in the Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr. Ime Ekpo, who was listening to a sermon in the church, was whisked away.


The gunmen, numbering about 10, were said to have stormed the church on Sunday around noon and demanded for Ime while the sermon was going on.


According to an eyewitness account, Ime was said to have been shot in the arm and whisked away in his captors’ car.


A member of the church, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said that when the kidnappers arrived the church, they shot sporadically into the air and went straight for their victim.


When contacted, the Akwa Ibom State Police Commissioner, Mr. Walter Rugbere, confirmed the incident. He said that about three kidnapping cases were recorded in the state on Sunday but that his men were able to foil two.


On the case of Ime, he said one suspect was arrested by the police and he was currently helping the command in its investigation in order to apprehend other members of the gang.


The police boss noted that other kidnapping cases were recorded at Ibesikpo Asutan and Essien Udium LGAs and that the police recovered one pistol from the kidnappers.