Gunmen on Monday abducted a retired Air Vice Marshal, Sikiru Smith, in the Ajah area of Lagos.

Smith was reportedly abducted while supervising an engineering work on a site in Ajah area of Lagos.

The gunmen, who wore masks, were said to have invaded the site, shot sporadically, and whisked the retired officer away in a waiting speedboat.

Confirming the incident, Adekunle Ajisebutu, Lagos police spokesperson, said the police is aware of the incident.

According to Punch Newspaper, in a SOS voice note shared by the driver to the retired general, Odiji, the air vice marshal (rtrd.) engaged in a struggle with the gunmen before he was subdued.

“This is an emergency. I am Corporal Odiji attached to Air Vice Marshal Smith. They just abducted him from the site where we were working. Some gunmen who were wearing masks just came and snatched my boss now. They shot everywhere. I was near where I was fixing my boss’ vehicle.

“As I was coming, I saw them leaving in a boat but I wasn’t armed so I just ran to the site and I saw his glasses and where he struggled with them. Please pass this information. It is an emergency,” he said in the SOS.

Smith, a cousin to a former Inspector-General of Police and current Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Musiliu Smith, was commissioned into the Nigerian Air Force as a Pilot Officer in 1979.

He is the chairman of Double Wealth Ventures Limited – a dredging and engineering firm, Punch reported.

The police said they are “on the matter”, and would update the public.

PT