The member representing Ushongo State Constituency in the Benue state House of Assembly, Hon. Abbas Akoso, has raised the alarm over the “rising insecurity in the state, and by extension Nigeria.”
The lawmaker alongside his family has been subjected to several attacks by criminal elements, with the most recent coming on February 20, 2022, when armed men stormed his residence, but unfortunately met their absence.
It would be recalled that his wife, Mrs. Rita Akoso, was kidnapped in 2020, and also faced two failed attempts in 2019 and 2021, respectively.
On one of the failed attempts in 2019, Mrs. Akoso, a humanitarian and fashion designer, was accosted by suspected thugs in Mbaayam, Agir Council Ward in Lessel, Ushongo LGA. The thugs who had driven close to her car, and blocked her, were unable to conclude their motive as her driver drove fast enough to evade them.
Similarly, in 2021, gunmen tried abducting his children- Joshua, Bethel and John Mark Akoso around Mabushi area of Abuja on their way back from Church during the last yuletide season.
Mrs. Akoso has also alleged that the kidnappers were still threatening to kidnap her children, and that had called on the authorities to invest more in security, even as she urged the public to always be on alert.
While the family believes that political opponents of the lawmaker were behind his ordeal, the entire state had been faced with its own share of insecurity like almost every other part of the country.
