Tuesday 7 January 2014

Gunmen kidnap Bayelsa monarch’s mother, daughter; former commissioner’s son too

Governor Seriake Dickson of Bayelsa
The police confirmed the kidnap.
Arodiegwu Eziukwu
The 74-year-old mother of Walter Agiri, the Paramount Ruler of Agrisaba Community in Nembe Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, has been kidnapped, the police said on Tuesday.
The police said Ikhiogha Walter and her granddaughter, Yellow-Tamuno Joseph, were kidnapped on Sunday in Agrisaba community.
In a separate incident, the 6-year-old son of a former Bayelsa commissioner was also kidnapped earlier in the year, the Bayelsa Police spokesperson, Alex Akhigbe, said.
Mr. Akhigbe said though the incidents had been reported to the police, details were still sketchy.
The Septuagenarian and her granddaughter were reportedly kidnapped at about 6.30 a.m. on Sunday by gunmen who arrived the community in two speed boats. Their abduction has heightened anxiety in the community, PREMIUM TIMES learnt.
A resident, who did not want his name disclosed for security reasons, said the kidnappers were masked; raising the suspicion that the abduction must have been carried out by people familiar to residents.
Meanwhile, the kidnappers of six-year-old Okali Powell, son of former commissioner Godknows Powell, have demanded a N50 million ransom to free him, a family source said in Yenagoa on Tuesday.
The boy was abducted by gunmen on New Year day along Etegwe, near Yenagoa, the state capital. He was returning from a church service with his mother when the kidnappers accosted them and whisked him off to an unknown destination, a family source told PREMIUM TIMES.
The father of the victim, Mr. Powell, served as a commissioner in the administration of ex-governor Timipre Sylva. He was also a former Chairman of Yenagoa Local Government Area during the administration of Diepreye Alamieyeseigha’s as Bayelsa governor.
Kidnapping has been on the rise in Bayelsa despite a law that stipulates the death penalty for convicted kidnappers.

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