After spending 11 days in custody, a director of the Rivers State Board of Internal Revenue Service, identified as Aribibia Fubara, who was abducted and kidnapped, has been released under conditions that are unknown.
According to reports, the director was abducted on August 25, 2024, by six unknown gunmen who were heavily armed. The kidnappers were reported to have travelled through the Okirika Waterfront in a speedboat to the Marine Base area of Port Harcourt, the state capital.
It learned that the gunmen invaded the gunmen who appeared to have known the victim for a long time visiting his usual sit-out in the state. On their arrival, they shot indiscriminately into the air, identified the victim, and took him away in their boat.
A family source who spoke anonymously explained that the kidnappers had contacted the family demanding the payment of forty million naira before the release of the victim. The source also explained that the kidnappers had failed to all them to negotiate on the price as their phone was switched off when the move was attempted.
In another contact on Sunday, the family source disclosed that the victim was released on Thursday and reunited with the family. The source refused to comment if any amount was paid to the kidnappers before his release.
The kidnappers had called the family to meet them at a location near Bonny, the source said. It was explained that the victim arrived at his residence on Friday morning in good health condition while the family was excited.
Speaking on the incident the spokesperson for the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, confirmed the released of the victim, she explained that the operatives of the command have taken steps to look for the suspect with the aim of bringing them to justice.
In another incident of abduction, ten persons who were abducted by suspected kidnappers while travelling from Bonny Island in Rivers State to Port Harcourt on September 2, 2024, have been reportedly released by their abductors.
The arrest was made known by the state Chairman of the Maritime Workers Union of Nigeria, Rivers Commercial District, Israel Pepple; he had disclosed that the passengers were travelling from Bonny to Port Harcourt when the abductors attacked them and took them away. The chairman, while speaking on the abduction, had decried the constant attacks in the sea and waterways.
A source who did not mention the name explained that the victims were abandoned in a creek at the Bonny channel following the pressure mounted by security operatives.
The PPRO of the command in the state, Iringe-Koko, confirmed the release of the victims; she disclosed that they were released on Saturday afternoon. According to her, the serious pressure mounted by the security agencies led to their release.
