Posted by By HENRY CHUKWURAH, Port Harcourt on
An eleven-year-old son of a Port Harcourt-based businessman has been kidnapped by gunmen.In a desperate bid to take away the young victim identified as Master Chidi Nsirim, the gunmen killed the boy's family driver and a police escort attached to them. Also, the boy's mother was shot in the hand and has been hospitalized.
An eleven-year-old son of a Port Harcourt-based businessman has been kidnapped by gunmen.In a desperate bid to take away the young victim identified as Master Chidi Nsirim, the gunmen killed the boy's family driver and a police escort attached to them. Also, the boy's mother was shot in the hand and has been hospitalized.
Chidi's younger brother, who witnessed the killing and abduction, said the hoodlums numbering four, were within the ages of 28 and 34 years.
Investigation by Daily Sun revealed that gunmen in a brown Mercedes Benz car accosted the vehicle conveying the Nsirims in front of Brixton Secondary School, in the Port Harcourt metropolis, where they had gone to drop Chidi, a student of the school who was resuming from the Easter holidays.
According to one of Chidi's other siblings, two of the gunmen went to the driver's side and ordered him to open the door. The armed men mistook the delayed opening of the automatic door as refusal of the driver to obey their orders and shot him and the policeman inside the car.
'My mummy begged them not to shoot and they shot her," the eye-witness said.
The boy said that one of the gunmen later used the butt of his gun to break the windscreen, before dragging his elder brother away into their vehicle and speeding off. In the process of dragging the boy out of the car, the mother was further injured.
Police spokesman, Mrs Ireju Barasua (DSP), confirmed the kidnap and gave assurance that the incident was under investigation.
Reacting, the state government through its Information Commissioner, Mr. Ogbonna Nwuke, expressed concern that women and children have become common targets of hostage-takers.
The government called for immediate release of the hostage.
Meanwhile, the family of the kidnapped boy has appealed to the abductors to release its son.
Chidi's abduction is coming barely 24 hours after the kidnapping of Mrs Patricia Asita, wife of a federal lawmaker representing Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni and Ahoada West Federal constituency in Rivers State.
The woman was abducted while on her way to church, in company of her husband and children.
Daily Sun gathered that four men ridding in a Mercedes Benz had blocked the couple's car, ordered the woman into their vehicle and sped off.