Ngozi Okonjo Iweala's Mother Freed - Didnt you Think Ransome was Paid?

Oya, Lets talk Nigeria my Nigeria....Finance Minister Mother was kidnapped, we heard the news, There were speculations of ransoms of 1Billion and a reduced N200 Million. Police said they will not negotiate as usual but miraculously, 5 days later, the 82 year old mother was released and yes, she was just freed like that like that.

Day 6, Police is still gathering information of how the release happened, Imagine in my Naija ile and you said there was no ransom paid - Seriously  .

Okay, there is this joke or coincidence that she was kidnapped on Sunday, President Jonathan asked for extra fuel subsidy money on Monday, House approved the money on Thursday and the Mother was released on Friday. If e no be am, he resemble am. But maybe that doesn't fit in, but where wont we be told how Mama was freed.

Mr Uduaghan said the abductors released her because they were scared, They knew what they were doing upfront, why would they be afraid until they got their money (jooooooor oooo). We all knew money was paid but we would soon hear how much.

Anyways, dem get plenry money to pay but as the saying goes..its still our money.

In the bid to free the matriarch of the Okonjo family, Aduba explained that the leader of the gang, one Nwazor Nwose, popularly called Bolaji, was killed by the police during a shootout in the Umuaji neighbourhood of Asaba.

Aduba described Bolaji as a notorious bandit, who was earlier arrested by the police some months ago and charged to court, but was freed on bail, only for him to return to his old business of kidnapping for ransom.

He said that when the police stormed the kingpin’s hideout in Asaba, he attempted to escape, but was shot.

The Police chief explained that the suspect still managed to scale the fence of his house, but was arrested outside the compound and died on the way to the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Asaba, where his corpse has been deposited in the morgue.

He listed items recovered from the hoodlums as their getaway Volkswagen car, marked DELTA ASB 677 AA, with which they abducted the Queen and a Toyota minibus, marked ANAMBRA KPP 64 XA, with the inscription of God’s Light City Church International.

Both vehicles were parked at a corner of the sprawling Police headquarters on Okpanam Road, Asaba.

Aduba said a combined team of policemen from Abuja and Delta State carried out the operation, adding that Mrs. Okonjo, a retired professor of Sociology, was freed from the kidnappers’ den in Kwale, Ndokwa West Council of the state, which the police stormed after the killing of the gang leader and the arrest of other gang members.

He gave the names of the other gang members arrested as Hard Rock, Tsetse Fly and Tipper Boy, stressing that a manhunt for the other members was on.

The Police commissioner explained that when the operation to free the octogenarian started, the police had to be extra careful, because if they had stormed kidnappers’ hideout, it could have resulted in fatalities, in view of her age.

On rumours that a ransom was paid before she was set free, Aduba said that as an institution, the police does not get itself involved in the payment of ransoms. He said it was only the family members that could speak authoritatively on the issue.

The Palace spokesman, Chief Lawrence Okolobi, who confirmed the release, said the rest of the family members were surprised, but very excited when the Queen rode into the palace on an Okada after she was set free by her captors.

Amidst tight security at the palace, Okolobi stressed that no ransom was paid before she was freed. - The Guardian

In what she would term as a reply to the ongoing discussion as to how her mother kidnapped and the non-ransom paid, The Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of  Finace , Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala revealed Monday that her mother, Prof Kamene Okonjo was kidnapped by those who claimed their fuel subsidy payments were blocked and the non-release of SURE-P funds.

She said her mother was  neither given food nor water during her kidnap.

I find the story interesting though because
1. They (that did the kidnap), dont have names yet
2. Mama was released and we have no news of the kidnappers, we only heard of a suspected man killed...nothing heard of the manhunt of 63 suspects anymore.
3. Of course, they said no ransom was paid, so who are the fuel subsidy aggrieved fellows and the sure-P evils?
4.

i think all Nigerian's know they paid something. That Is why there is a word called BEHIND THE SCENE

THE 10-man kidnap gang, which abducted Prof Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, has been torn apart as a result of sharing the ransom collected for the release of the Queen of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom in Delta State.

The new leader of the gang reportedly bolted away with N1million share of another member of the gang.

The affected member, 32 –year-old Andrew, aka Olokpa, from Edo state, who was desperately in need of money, decided to go on a reprisal mission by forming a new kidnap gang and was caught by the police.

He is presently on detention at the Delta State Police Command headquarters in Asaba.

He was seized on Thursday when police, acting on intelligence information, lured him to sell one of the guns in his possession, which was used in the kidnap of the queen mother of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom.

His arrest was confirmed to Saturday Vanguard, yesterday, in Asaba by the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba.

Hired for the operation
The suspected kidnapper, who spoke to Saturday Vanguard from the police cell, yesterday, however, asserted he was not among the main 10-man kidnap gang that abducted Prof Okonjo.

He stated that he was merely hired to supply food to Prof Okonjo in the bush, where she was kept on two occasions.

Commissioner Aduba, who maintained that that the police was not in support of payment of ransom to kidnappers and was not told by the family of Okonjo that they paid ransom to kidnappers, told Saturday Vanguard that nemesis would catch up with the remaining kidnappers, as the police have a database on them.

He confirmed our information that the second-in-command of the gang, who took over from the former leader and kidnap kingpin, Nwaeze Nwosa, a.k.a Bolaji, after he was shot dead by the police, Thursday, December 13, bolted away with N1 million share of the ransom kept for another member, Olokpa.

The gang members seriously disagreed on the action of the new leader and advised him to return Olokpa’s money to him, as he was the one in who took care of Prof Okonjo in their hideout.

The kidnap leader refused and Olokpa, who was in possession of the arms and ammunition used for the operation was in desperate money for the Christmas and New Year celebrations.

He reportedly formed another kidnap gang, which went for an operation in Aboh in Ndokwa area of the state.

The gang successfully kidnapped the victim but was confronted on the way out by the vigilance group in the area, which riddled its vehicle with bullets.

http://www.osundefender.org/?p=84039

“Since we know the hideout they planned to use, we strategized to lay ambush for them at the hideout, but because of the shooting by the vigilance group, the group diverted to Edo state, where they abandoned the vehicle used for the operation”, a source confided in our reporters.