The official story given by police to explain the release of kidnapped
Prof. Kamene Okonjo, mother of Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is raising
doubt about the real circumstances surrounding her escape.
At a
press conference, Delta State Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba,
said the Queen Mother was freed by her abductors after five days in
confinement and taken home by motorcycle from Kwale, 50 kilometers away.
The young man who dropped off Mrs. Okonjo has been arrested and is
being questioned, police said.
What remains confusing is the mode
of transportation of Professor Okonjo on a motorbike from the scene of
freedom to her home if actually the police stormed the kidnappers
hideout and rescued her as being claimed.
With the case
"resolved," it remains unclear whether those arrested in recent days in
connection with the kidnapping would be released or charged.
The Queen Mother of Ogwashi-Uku was kidnapped last Sunday at aboaut 1:47 p.m. by 10 armed kidnappers at her husband’s palace.
Unofficial
sources told our reporter that the Queen Mother managed to free herself
unassisted, but an updated police version of the story alleges that
police stormed the kidnappers’ den in Asaba, the state capital, where
they killed one suspect, Nwaze Nwosa aka Bolaji, arrested another gang
member and shot four members of the gang who escaped with bullet wounds.
It
is unclear what role the storming of a location in Asaba had to do with
the kidnap victim regaining her freedom in Kwale. Also unknown is
whether a ransom was paid to facilitate her release.
Earlier, the
Police Command blamed "insiders" for orchestrating the Queen Mother’s
abduction, and they unmasked the identity of 25 suspected kidnappers,
armed robbers and pipeline vandals that have been terrorizing the oil
rich state.
Briefing journalists at the command headquarters in
Asaba today, CP Aduba said the sensitive nature of Queen Mother Okonjo’s
kidnap made the command beam its searchlight on any obvious errors or
lapses either on the part of the palace guards or the Divisional Police
Headquarters in Ogwashi-Uku. He said the release of the victim involved
the combined efforts of the crack team of
policemen
deployed by the Inspector-General of Police, Muhammed Abubakar, and the
proactiveness of men of the Special Anti-Crime Squad (SARS).
According
to him, “the Delta State Police supported by a crack team from IGP’s
Special Task Force on Terrorism, Abuja, consciously and professionally
with due caution collated intelligence on the activities of the hoodlums
and struck their hideouts in Asaba.” He said the manhunt for the
fleeing members of the gang was on and that the command would not rest
until they were arrested.
He displayed the items recovered from their hideouts to include an ash-coloured Golf 3 car with
registration
number DELTA ASB 697 AA, which he said had been used to transport the
Queen Mother out of the palace; and a white Toyota bus, labeled God’s
Delight Church International, with registration number ANAMBRA KPP 64
XA.
A Police source in the state told SaharaReporters that the
dead leader of the kidnap gang had been on the most wanted list for his
alleged involvement in a series of kidnapping and violent crimes in the
state. He also stated that the Delta state police command once arrested
him and charged him with various crimes, but he was released without
trial and kidnappings
continue unabated in the state.
Mrs Okonjo is a retired professor of sociology at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka.
Her
husband, Obi Chukwuka Okonjo Agbogidi, a retired professor of
economics, is the traditional ruler of the Ogwashi-Uku kingdom in Delta
State.
