Kidnapped Customs Officer, Seven Family Members Still Missing Two Weeks After

A Lagos-based Customs officer, James Pallam, kidnapped along with his seven family members in Borno State, is still missing two weeks after. Pallam, a native of Muldu in Madagali Local Government Area of Adamawa State, his wife, five children, comprising three female and two male as well as a cousin were kidnapped two weeks ago.
Confirming the abduction to Daily Sun, Chairman of the local government, Mr. Abaw Wathlarda, said Pallam was abducted with his family members while returning home in his personal car, from Maiduguri after the wedding ceremony of his younger brother.

They were kidnapped on their way to Madagali, Adamawa State, when gunmen in a Mitsubishi Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) forcefully intercepted his car and whisked all the family members away.

According to Wathlarda, the family was abducted at Firgi village, in Borno State. He said the council had mobilized people and family members in search of the eight family members. When contacted on phone by Daily Sun, the Adamawa Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), said he was in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State for a seminar organized for police spokesmen across Nigeria and could not comment on the incident.

Similarly, when Daily Sun contacted the Customs headquarters in Abuja on phone for comments on the abduction of the customs officer, Customs Public Relations Officer, Mr. Wale Adeniyi, did not pick the calls to his phone line.

The Customs officer, an Inspector and relation of a former deputy speaker of Adamawa State, Mr Emmanuel Tsamdu, is based in Lagos. Pallam is a native of Mildlu, the country home of the Deputy Governor of Adamawa State, Mr. James Bala Ngilari, who recently lost two of his aides in a recent attack on the village.

The attack on Mildlu two weeks ago in which 11 people including the two aides of the deputy governor were killed, coincided with the time Pallam and his family were abducted at Firgi in Borno State.



-- Information Nigeria