Abductors of Inengite Nitabai (Read HERE), the 70-year old uncle of President Goodluck Jonathan, have demanded a N500m ransom.
A security source said that the abductors threatened to kill him if the family fails to produce the money.
The source also
said the family had constituted a committee to evaluate the demand,
establish negotiations with the abductors and facilitate his release.
He said the kidnappers had also warned against the involvement of security operatives in the matter.
“The kidnappers
contacted the family four days after and demanded a whopping sum of
N500m. It is believed that the family of the victim has begun
negotiations with the hoodlums,” he said.
Tension and
panic set in when the kidnappers failed to establish any contact with
the family of their victim three days after he was abducted.
That development
was said to have rattled the Presidency, which reportedly ordered a
massive deployment of security in Otuoke, the hometown of the Jonathans,
and the Niger Delta creeks.
The gunmen abducted Nitabai on Sunday after collecting about N400,000 from his wife.
It would be
recalled that on October 14 last year, Augusta Douglas Ayam, the sister
of Mr. Oronto Douglas, the Special Advisor to President Jonathan on
Research and Strategy, was also kidnapped in the same area.
She was released
after nine days, and the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger
Delta MEND, claiming to have made accidental contact with the
kidnappers, confirmed that the Jonathan government paid $200,000 US as
ransom for her release.
The movement
said the kidnappers wanted to use the incident to make a political
statement, as they were disgusted at the ostentation they had witnessed
during the burial of Oronto’s father in December last year. That event
featured the widespread use of government equipment, including free use
of military helicopters to shuttle guests and merchandise.
It was on one of
those trips that Kaduna State Governor, Patrick Yakowa, and former
National Security Adviser Andrew Owoye Azazi died in a crash.
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