Woman, three-week-old baby abducted in Rivers

Bolaji Ogundele, Port Harcourt - 26.03.2008

A woman and her three-week-old baby were in the early hours of Monday abducted from their home in Etche Local Government Area of Rivers State. The husband of the woman, Mr. Samuel Ejiogu, is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) councillorship candidate for ward 16 of the local government in the coming local government election in the state.

Narrating his ordeal, Ejiogu, who said the attack on his family and the abduction of his wife and infant were politically motivated, said the hoodlums had demanded N5 million ransom.

According to him, the hoodlums entered his house through the ceiling, terrorised his household and kidnapped his loved ones.

“They were armed with all sorts of weapons, came in through the ceiling, terrorised my family and kidnapped my wife and kid. They called me immediately to demand N20 million ransom, I told them I don’t have such a huge sum of money. They called back and slashed it to N5 million,” he said.

When contacted for confirmation, the Army Public Relations Officer of the 2 Amphibious Brigade, Port Harcourt, Lieutenant Colonel Sagir Musa, said he had heard of the incident, but that he was out of town to have better information.

The chairmanship candidate of the PDP for Etche was also a recent victim of abductors when his two sons, Alwell and Wisdom, were abducted in Port Harcourt.