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The police in Delta State have dismissed reports that abductors of Kanene Okonjo, mother of Nigeria’s Finance Minister, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, are demanding $1bn as ransom.
The state Police Commissioner, Ikechukwu Aduba, on Monday said the police were not aware of the speculated demands.
Reuters reports that Police said someone, purporting to be one of the kidnappers, had phoned on Monday to make some demands, but it was impossible to say whether the call was genuine.
“We have to identify the source of the call. Anybody can make spurious calls and demands,” said Delta State Police spokesman, Sergie Ezegam, without giving details of who was contacted or what was demanded.
“We still don’t know the reason for her abduction. What we know is that this is a crime, the woman’s life is in danger and we are making frantic efforts to rescue her.”
The mother of the Finance Minister was kidnapped Sunday afternoon from her home at about 1.30pm by eight gunmen who invaded her husband’s palace at Ogbe-Ofu quarters in Ogwashi-Uku.
Shortly after her arrest, the police declared they already had information about the kidnappers and have deployed a “massive manhunt” for them.
“We have been able to rescue about 40 victims before,” Aduba said.
Also, the Deputy Force Public Relations Officer, Frank Mba, a chief superintendent, told one of our correspondents that detectives were working on certain clues, expressing confidence that the police would soon record a breakthrough in the investigation.
According to him, the Inspector-General of Police,Mohammed Abubakar, has directed Aduba to ensure that the wife of the traditional ruler of Ogwashi-Uku, Prof. Chukwuka Okonjo, is rescued soon.
Mba said in compliance with the directive, the CP had launched a manhunt for the criminals.
