Hawker abducts two siblings at Benue church

• The incident occurred after mass at the St Peter’s Catholic Church Makurdi on Sunday
• The children were said to have bought some items from a female hawker loitering around the church’s premises

Two siblings have been kidnapped in Makurdi, Benue State.

The siblings Philomena Kpaakpa, 4, and Benedict Kpaakpa, 2, were abducted after church service.

The incident occurred after mass at the St Peter’s Catholic Church Makurdi on Sunday.

The children were said to have bought some items from a female hawker loitering around the church’s premises.

It was further gathered that they followed the hawker, who claimed not to have ‘change’, to get their balance, while their mother walked in front only to realise too late that her children were no longer behind her.

A search proved abortive, as the hawker and children were nowhere to be found.

The father of the children works with the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), Wurukum, Makurdi.

When journalists visited the home of the missing children, neighbours and sympathisers surrounded the weeping mother, who was too distraught and grief-stricken to answer any question.

The spokesperson for the Benue State Police Command, Catherine Anene, said that the matter had not been officially reported to the police.