Authorities of the Abia State University Uturu (ABSU) have confirmed the abduction of an unspecified number of its students by gunmen along the Okigwe-Uturu road.
The victims were kidnapped alongside other passengers after the bus conveying them was ambushed by some gunmen.
According to the Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the university, the incident occurred around 8:00 pm on Thursday, March 31.
The statement advised students to avoid night travels, while assuring that efforts were being intensified to secure the release of the affected students.
Unconfirmed reports, however, have it that two medical students of the university (names withheld) are among the victims.
Their abductors have reportedly contacted the families of the victims and made a demand for N2 million ransom on each person.
Despite countless security checkpoints on the five-kilometre road between Uturu and Okigwe in Imo State, kidnapping for ransom has become rampant along that axis.
Fulani bandits have been fingered for most of the abductions around the vicinity.
A number of abductions had been recorded around the area since last year with ABSU students and staff being the victims.
Fulani bandits in one of the incidents last year shot indiscriminately into a bus conveying students of Marist Academy Uturu returning from a trip in Imo killing a final year student in the process.
Fulani herdsmen have virtually taken over the hills around the area where they openly graze their cattle despite the anti-open grazing law in the State.