‘My Abductors Wanted N100m’

PHCCIMA President (middle), Engr Emeka Unachukwu, Prince Nnamdi Ogbogbo (left) and Chapp Jumbo (right), at a business meeting. Photo: NAN

The abducted wife of the Permanent Secretary Special Service Bureau office of the Secretary to the Rivers State Government, Mrs Edith Okari, says her abductors had demanded for a N100 million ransom.
Okari was kidnapped by unknown gunmen on the 25th of April, 2014, at her shop along 131 Aggrey Road, Port Harcourt but was released on the 2nd of May, 2014.
Reliving her ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers, in an interview with newsmen in Port Harcourt, Mrs Okari said that the kidnappers demanded for N100 million ransom, but later reduced it to N30 million.
She, however, said that no ransom was paid as her abductors abandoned her and ran after hearing gunshots from security operatives.
Narrating further, Mrs. Okari stated that after being kidnapped from her shop, the gunmen, who were four in number, took her in their car through Aggrey Road to Ndoki water front where she was whisked away into a speedboat which took her across the rivers to an unknown destination.
She said that the kidnappers, who spoke Ijaw language, dragged her into the mangrove where she was kept for two weeks.
Mrs Okari said that the kidnappers later established contact with her husband by demanding for a ransom of N100 million.
She, however, said that luck ran out on the kidnappers when some security operatives combing the creeks and mangroves discovered her location, and rescued her.
Mrs Okari described the experience as a terrible one, stressing that it is not what one should wish for his worst enemies.
While commending the security agencies for their intervention to save her life, she stressed the need for increased surveillance with a view to locating all criminal hideouts in the state.
Mrs Okari also advised members of the public to be more security conscious by reporting every suspicious movements around them to the security agencies for action.