Gunmen abduct Delta APC women leader, demand N30m ransom

Unidentified gunmen, have abducted an All Progressives Congress women leader in Delta State, identified simply as Margaret.

Margaret is said to be a staunch supporter of the member representing Delta Central Senatorial District in the Senate, Mr Ovie Omo-Agege.

It was learnt that Margaret, a politician and trader from Efurun in the Uvwie Local Government Area of Delta State, was abducted on her way back from a campaign rally at Orogun, in the Ughelli North Local Government Area of the state.

It was gathered that the 50-year-old woman, who contested the councillorship of her local government recently, was in a vehicle belonging to the unnamed director-general of Omo-Agege’s campaign team with three other party faithful.

While the other three occupants of the vehicle escaped from the abductors, Margaret was said to have been unlucky and was whisked away to an unknown destination.

The abductors of the APC member were said to have called a friend of the victim and demanded a ransom of N30m before she could be freed.

Explaining the plight of the victim, her friend and an APC faithful, who gave his name only as Commander, told our correspondent that Margaret’s captors had called him many times regarding the ransom payment.

Commander, an ex-naval officer, who said the abductors demanded N30m ransom, said he initially did not know that the women leader had been abducted until he called her telephone on Tuesday.

He stated, “When I called her number, a man picked the call and I asked him to give the phone to the owner.

“But the man identified himself as a kidnapper. He told me that he would give me two minutes to speak with the captive for me to know that she had been abducted. I was taken aback when I heard him say that. Anyway, I still called the line to speak with Margaret. She told me that it was true that she had been kidnapped.

“After the two minutes, they collected the phone from her and started negotiating with me. They told me to go and bring N30m to secure her release or they would kill her the next day, being Wednesday. I started begging them not to kill her and that they should allow me to contact her people to let them know of the development.”

Commander said the abductors still called him to find out how far he had gone to raise the ransom.

He noted that when the abductors called him again on Thursday, he begged them to spare her and that he was making frantic efforts to reach Margaret’s family and the party hierarchy in the state to handle the matter.

Commander added, “I went to her house on Ogbon Street in Effurun, Uvwie Local Government Area, but did not find anybody in the place. I also reached out to our party ward chairman, Desire Odjebibo, but he told me that Senator Ovie Omo-Agege was aware of the abduction.

“I went further to reach out to the senator himself; he told me that he was aware of the incident and was working to ensure that the woman is released.”

He appealed to the abductors to spare Margaret, describing her as a simple and easy-going woman incapable of hurting anybody.

Efforts to get the Delta State Police Command to react to the development were futile as several calls made to its spokesman, Andrew Aniamaka’s telephone were neither answered nor was a message sent to him responded to as of the time of filing this report.