How medical doctor died in kidnappers’ hideout in Rivers

• State PDP alleges attacks on members

A FEW days after Dr. Samuel Okpara was abducted from his private hospital in Abuloma axis of Port Harcourt in Rivers State, he is said to have died in the hands of his kidnappers.

  Okpara, a medical doctor, was kidnapped in Port Harcourt alongside two others.

  Following Okpara’s abduction, the Nigeria Medical Association (NMA) had threatened to embark on an indefinite strike due to incessant kidnapping of their colleagues in the state.

  It was gathered that Okpara’s kidnappers had contacted the family and demanded for a ransom, which they insisted  must be paid before he could be released.

  It was not clear if the money was paid or not.

  Chairman of the NMA in the state, Dr. Furo Green, who confirmed Okpara’s death, said his corpse was found behind the Government Comprehensive Secondary  School, Borokiri, Port Harcourt, where it was dumped by his kidnappers.

  The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, Ahmad Mohammad, said the remains of Okpara were discovered last Tuesday behind GCSS, Borokiri, by men of the State Police Command.

  Mohammad also confirmed the rescue of two other medical doctors, who were kidnapped in Port Harcourt within the same period that Okpara was abducted.

  The police spokesman, however, denied knowledge of any contact between the kidnappers of Ndigbara and his family, leading to demand for ransom, but noted that the police had intensified effort in arresting his kidnappers.

  Meanwhile, the ‘‘repeated attacks on members of the Rivers State chapter of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), have become most worrisome and can no longer be taken as ordinary as certain persons opposed to the party seem to have made it a point of duty to eliminate marked PDP candidates and chieftains,” its chairman, Felix Obuah, has alleged.

  He, in a statement signed by his Special Adviser on Media, Jerry Needam, said this is being orchestrated by the opposition as the onslaught is targeted at the PDP candidates standing for the general elections and selected party stalwarts.

  He added: ‘‘Saddened by yet another attack on the party’s candidate for the Khana/Gokana Federal Constituency, and former Deputy Speaker of the State House of Assembly, Dum Dekor, the immediate past chairman of Khana Local Government Council, Greg Nwidam, Hon. Barine Deyah, Barrister DineBari Loolo, House of Assembly candidates for Khana Constituencies one and two, and two others Wednesday, February 25, 2015, Prince Obuah said there is no gainsaying the fact that the opposition was behind this madness.

  ‘‘All they want is to turn the state into a theatre of war as a way of forestalling a sure victory for the PDP.

  ‘‘Happening just a few days after another PDP chieftain, and former House of Representatives aspirant, Chukwudi Dimkpa narrowly escaped death at the hands of his assailants, Dum Dekor’s attackers only succeeded in shattering his car with bullets while he and his co-occupants of the car escaped unhurt miraculously.”

  Rt. Hon Dekor and Hon Greg Nwidam in the company of Bariene Deyah and DineBari Loolo, House of Assembly candidates for Khana Constituencies one and two, among others were coming back to Port Harcourt on Wednesday, February 25, 2015 at about 9p.m. after a successful political campaign in Khana LGA when they were waylaid by suspected hired killers close to the Refinery Junction along Eleme Road in Eleme, and hometown of All Progressives Congress (APC) National Assistant Secretary, Mr. Oji Nhyimenuate Ngofa.