Rivers United manager, Stanley Eguma, has been abducted by unknown gunmen.
Our correspondent learnt that Eguma was abducted along Enugu road with two of his personal assistants on his way back from a Nigerian Professional Football League game against Adamawa United, at the Ribadu Square Stadium, Yola, which the Port Harcourt-based side lost 2-0.
“The coach did not return with the team on Tuesday but that’s all I can tell you. We hear he has been kidnapped but we are waiting to hear officially from the club management,” a source close to the coach, who spoke to The PUNCH on condition of anonymity, said.
Kidnappings of footballers and officials, as well as their relatives, have become a common occurrence in Nigeria, with Eguma the second NPFL coach to be kidnapped — after Abdulahi Biffo — in two years.
In February, Kabiru Mohammed, the bus driver of NPFL side, Adamawa United, was abducted by unknown gunmen and was released after six days after a ransom of N1m was paid to the abductors.
Last year, Super Eagles and Enyimba star Dayo Ojo was kidnapped alongside two others on the Benin-Owo expressway on his way to Akure following the suspension of the NPFL due to the outbreak of coronavirus in the country.
Last November, former Eagles midfielder Christian Obodo was kidnapped in Delta State, making it the second time he would be abducted in eight years, after suffering a similar fate in 2012.
Between 2015 and 2019, the mother of former Nigeria coach and player Samson Siasia, Ogere, was abducted twice.
In 2007, the father of former Eagles captain Mikel Obi was kidnapped for the second time in seven years, with the former Chelsea midfielder paying a ransom of N10m for his release few days later.
