The kidnappers of Chief Inengite Nitabai, President Goodluck Jonathan’s uncle, have allegedly rejected the N30 million offered by his family as ransom for his freedom.
A former lecturer at the Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Port Harcourt, Chief Nitabai was abducted penultimate Sunday at his Otuoke country home in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State by 10 armed men.
The kidnapped chief was said to have played a major role in the training of President Jonathan during his school days as an undergraduate and postgraduate student. He is the traditional head of the president’s compound. Nitabai, reports said, has been acting like a father to the president since Jonathan’s biological father died.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the alleged rejection of the family offer by the kidnappers is coming on the heels of the Ijaw Youth Council (IYC) worldwide’s warning to the embattled Nitabai family that no ransom should be paid to the kidnappers.
The abductors, report said, had contacted the victim’s family four days after he was whisked away demanding a whooping sum of N500 million as ransom to set him free.
A source said the distressed Nitabai family instead offered to pay his abductors N30 million, which they rejected. “They (kidnappers) rejected the N30 million offer, which they described as laughable coming from a family linked to the president,” the source said.
A security source confirmed the development, saying: “We are aware that the family is negotiating with the kidnappers and they are demanding N500 million, which the family described as outrageous. They instead offered to part with N30 million, which the kidnappers were said to have rejected.”
When the state Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alex Akhigbe, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), was contacted, the DSP said he was not aware of the demand. He however disclosed that its operatives deployed in the creeks are making progress in their search for the kidnapped chief.
However, IYC had earlier warned the family of Nitabai not to pay any ransom to the kidnappers. The IYC described the action of the kidnappers as a crime, which the council would not condone.
It said the three-man committee set up to work with security agencies to fish out the kidnappers of Nitabai was making tremendous progress to secure his release.
Spokesman of IYC, Mr. Eric Omare said contacts had been established with the kidnappers who demanded a ransom of N500 million, assuring Nigerians that the president’s uncle would be released soon.
“In consonance with the position of the IYC, we have advised relevant persons not to offer any ransom to effect the release of Nitabai.
“If we offer ransom, we are encouraging more kidnapping; IYC’s position is that criminality must be erased from Ijawland; so, we have told them not to offer any ransom.
“Although, he has not been released, we will effect his release in the next few days,” he said.
Omare, who disclosed this to journalists shortly after the inaugural meeting of the council at the Ijaw House in Yenagoa, said the identity of the three-man committee working with the security agents would not be disclosed for security reasons as serious progress had been made to free the septuagenarian.
