Charles Mato Dakat, the paramount ruler of Gindiri chiefdom in Mangu Local Government Area of Plateau State, has been kidnapped early on Sunday morning.

According to PUNCH, the traditional ruler was whisked away from his palace in the middle of the night under intense gunshots within the vicinity.

“He was in the palace alone because the wife had travelled to Jos and the children were also not around,” the paper quoted a source as saying. “All through the wee hours, there was heavy shooting by the bandits in his palace, and people in the community were running in different directions.”

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Both Major Ishaku Takwa, the Military Information Officer of the Operation Safe Haven in Plateau and Gabriel Ubah, the spokesman for the state police command, have been unable to answer FIJ’s calls for updates on the latest incident.

Meanwhile, apart from Bassa, Mangu is another LGA that has been bedevilled by the age-long sectarian violence between farmers and herders in the state.

On December 17, Simon Lalong, the state governor, had suspended the three months on three LGAs on the advice of the security council.