sneaked into Otuoke, his hometown in Ogbia Local
Government Area, Bayelsa State, and whisked away his first
cousin, Chief Inengite Nitabai - who now plays the role of his
father!
Nitabai said to be about 70 years old is a compound chief in
Jonathan's Ebele family. He has been acting like a father to
the President since Jonathan's real biological father died,
sources from the family told The Nation newspaper.
Commotion and panic reigned supreme in the compound of
Nitabai when the bandits gained access to the area between 8
and 9pm on Sunday.
The victim, his wife, his wife's sister and three of his children
were in the house when the assailants stormed the compound.
His wife's sister, 37-year-old Akinobebh Jin, said Silas, one
of the sons of the victim first sighted the criminals and raised
the alarm.
"We came back from somewhere around 8pm. Silas was at
the verandah doing his assignment while my inlaw, my sister
and two other siblings were in the living room together. After
some time, Silas came shouting, saying that some people had
just entered into the compound. As we sprang on our feet, we
were confused because we didn't know where to run to.
Shortly after that, five heavily armed men entered into the
house, barking. We ran into the kitchen and some of them
followed us to the kitchen. They asked us to lie down. They
hit my sister on the head and asked her to give them money.
They also hit my inlaw with the butt of their guns and demanded money. They threatened to shoot us. My sister told
them she had small money and they followed her to the
bedroom where she gave them money",she said.
Jin said after collecting about N400,000, the gunmen still took
their victim forcefully into a car parked at the compound. She
said the car a Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) belonged to the
victim and was parked in the compound.
"Five of the gunmen entered the compound while five others
were hanging around the premises. They locked us inside the
house before leaving", she said.
Jin who sustained injury on her finger said she was yet to
recover from the shock. There was uneasy calm around the
area. A detachment of Joint Task Force(JTF), Operation Pulo
Shield, and operatives of the police had been deployed to the
place. Sympathisers were seen trooping into the compound
while the wife of the victim was said to have gone to the
clinic for treatment.
People were seen in groups discussing the incident just as a
road leading to Otuoke had been cordoned off by soldiers. It
was learnt that the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Hilary Opara,
and the Deputy Commander, JTF, Commodore Ime Ekpa, had
earlier visited the crime scene. Opara said he and his men had
murdered sleep since the incident happened. He said the
police alerted other sister security agencies and prompted
them to swing into action. He added that two gunboats had
been stationed at the Onuebum waterside disclosing that the
police had so far patrolled Edebiri, Kiambiri, Anyama and
Ogobiri creeks.Opara revealed that two suspects had been
arrested so far.
"The other two suspects saw my men and ran away. We know
them and we will get them", he said.
The Media Coordinator, JTF, Col. Onyema Nwachukwu,
confirmed the incident and said the assailants abandoned the
victim's car at the Onuebum community water front. The
confirmation showed that the assailants must have escaped
with their victim into the creeks through Onuebum waterways.
Nwachukwu said:
"Information available to me is that a certain Chief Nengite
Nitabai was abducted by about 10 gunmen yesterday at about
9pm at Otuoke community in Ogbia LGA using his private
vehicle."The vehicle was later recovered at Onuebum
community water front. The Deputy Commander, JTF,
Commodore Ime Ekpa and a team of security agents have
visited the crime scene and investigation is in progress to
unmask the kidnappers and rescue the victim".
Further investigations in Otuoke revealed that there were two
Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) of the Nigerian Army
stationed in the community. While one and detachment of
soldiers have been guarding the mansion of President
Jonathan, the other was stationed at the former hotel
belonging to the wife of the President.
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