BAYELSA – Ms. Joyce Ebua, sister to the state Commissioner for Sports, Chief Mitema Obordor, was abducted from her Oloibiri residence on Monday, March 10, 2014 by unknown gunmen.
This is coming exactly nineteen days after Chief Inengite Nitabai, cousin to President Goodluck Jonathan was seized by armed men at Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.
The incident, which happened when security agencies in the state were said to have been preoccupied with efforts to locate the whereabouts of President Jonathan’s cousin, reportedly angered the newly-posted Commander of the Joint Task Force
Vanguard reports:
Oloibiri, also in Ogbia Local Government Area, is the community where oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in 1956.
Vanguard learnt that five armed men stormed the residence of Ebua at 8.55pm on Monday and whisked her away through the creek behind her house.
The gunmen were said to have shot sporadically into the air as they escaped with their victim to an unknown destination in the mangrove. One of the kidnappers was reportedly dressed in a mobile police uniform.
A source said: “They were five in number and one of them was wearing MOPOL uniform. They forcefully abducted the victim and put her in a waiting speedboat at the waterfront behind her house to an unknown location.”
JTF responds
The development, it was learnt, angered the newly-posted Commander of the Joint Task Force in the Niger Delta, codenamed Operation Pulo Shield, Major General Emmanuel Atewe.
He was said to have summoned all the officers and men of the outfit to the headquarters of the JTF in Yenagoa at 2.30am.
“The commander ensured that nobody in the command slept after the incident,” a security source said. Atewe, it was further learnt, led troops to the scene of the crime yesterday morning.
JTF Media Coordinator, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu, confirmed the incident.
He said: “The Command has activated the security network on both land and waterways in conjunction with other security agencies to locate and track down the kidnappers.”
The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Opara, also confirmed the kidnap incident and said that the police had begun investigations.
… as police nab 6 kidnappers
Meanwhile, police in Bayelsa State have arrested six suspected kidnappers, who after robbing a house in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area abducted a woman.
However, the woman was freed by the marine police, who intercepted the bandits along the waterways. A police source said the suspects robbed a home at Diebu community, escaped with some valuables and a woman.
The source said: “They were armed with AK-47 rifles. They stormed a home, stole many valuables. Curiously, they took a woman along with them maybe to demand for ransom later.
“But luck ran out on them when some marine policemen intercepted them along the Southern Ijaw waterways and arrested them. They are currently being detained at the headquarters of the command in Yenagoa.”
