Gunmen abduct 72-year-old Jonathan’s foster father

Daredevil gunmen in the early hours of yesterday stormed Otuoke, hometown of former President, Goodluck Jonathan, abducting his uncle and foster father, Chief Inengite Nitabai.

The 72-year-old former lecturer of the Rivers State University and a prominent chief of Otuoke in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, was whisked away at about 3.30am from his residence by seven heavily armed men who shot sporadically into the air to scare way any resistance.

Though details of his abduction were sketchy, a reliable source said the gunmen gained access to Nitabai’s residence through the creek.

The victim’s residence is located beside a creek, some distance away from a military checkpoint close to the Otuoke Bridge, off the Onuebum-Otuoke Road.

It was learnt that the septuagenarian, though an uncle to the former president, had been a father figure to Jonathan since the death of Jonathan’s biological father.

This is the second time the victim will be abducted by kidnappers who for the past two years have laid siege on Bayelsa waterways, abducting its prominent citizens and collecting ransom before they are released.

The kidnap of Mr. Inengite is coming few days after Governor Serikae Dickson vowed to fight all forms of criminalities and acts of kidnapping in the state as he took his oath of office for a second term on Sunday at the Samson Siasia Sports Complex.

Though no ransom has been demanded by the abductors, police authorities in Bayelsa State, yesterday confirmed the abduction of the former lecturer by seven gunmen.