Jonathan’s cousin: Kidnappers turn down N30m offer Kidnappers of Inengite Nitabai, the cousin of President Goodluck Jonathan, have rejected N30million ransom offered them to free their victim describing the money as “too small”. It was gathered that the 10-man gang insisted that the offer was meager and did not measure up to the kind of money they expected when they set out on a criminal mission to abduct their victim. They reportedly described the offer which was said to have been made by the family as a joke. A top security source who pleaded anonymity said the leader of the gang sounded rigid and mean. The source said the kidnappers carefully studied the relationship between their victim and President Jonathan before embarking on the mission. “The family offered them N30milion but they turned it down and laughed it out as a joke. They said they would not collect such small money from someone close to the President,” he said. Nitabai, a compound chief in Jonathan’s Ebele Family, was abducted by 10 gunmen on February 23 at his residence in Otuoke, Ogbia Local Government Area, Bayelsa State. He was driven out of his compound in his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) by the bandits who harassed his in-law and collected N400, 000 from his wife. His car was later recovered at Onuebum waterside, a development that fueled speculations that his abductors escaped with him through the creeks. Three days after the incident, the kidnappers established contact with the family and demanded N500m ransom to free Nitabai. Days after negotiations, the abductors were said to have stuck to their whooping ransom demand despite appeals from the family to accept N30m. But the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) warned security agencies and family members of Nitabai against paying ransom to the kidnappers. Rising from its inaugural meeting at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa, IYC said the three-man committee it set up to work with security agencies to secure the release of Nitabai were making progress. Speaking after the meeting, the Spokesman of the IYC, Eric Omare, refused to disclose the identities of the committee members for security reasons. He said IYC would not glorify kidnapping by paying ransom to the perpetrators. He promised that with the efforts so far made by the committee, Nitabai will soon be set free by his assailants. “In consonance with the position of the IYC we have advised the relevant persons not to offer any ransom in order to effect the release of Mr. President Uncle because if we offer ransom we are encouraging more kidnapping. “IYC position is that criminality must be erased from Ijaw land, so we have told them not to offer any ransom. “Though he has not been released, we are very sure in the next few days or hours we would effect his release.”-THE NATION REPORT
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 15:38:08 +0000
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