A kidnapping syndicate based in the Niger Republic has demanded a payment of $100, 000, more than N19million, before they release a 15-year-old Nigerian schoolgirl, Precious Okoro, who they abducted last year.
According to the victim’s father, Nwaigwe, Precious was kidnapped in Sangotedo, in the Ajah area of Lagos State, on her way to her boarding school in Ikenne, Ogun State.
The father claimed that he was only informed about the abduction of his daughter two weeks afterwards, when the school management contacted him to say Precious had not arrived at the school.
The abducted Precious Okoro
He explained that he reported the matter to the police at the Ajah Police Division, where he was asked to exercise patience.
Nwaigwe added that he was later contacted by the kidnappers, who informed him that his daughter was in Niamey, the Niger Republic capital.
“My daughter, who was on holiday, was returning to her school in Ikenne Communty College, Ikene, Ogun State. On Sunday, May 25, 2014, she boarded a bus at the motor park in my presence and I bid her farewell.
“I thought she was already in school until the principal called me and said the school was about writing exams and nobody knew her whereabouts.
“I quickly informed the police at Ajah, and the Divisional Police Officer told me to be calm and wait because it was possible she went to a boyfriend’s house and they probably wanted to fleece me.
“One fateful morning in August, I saw an international line and the kidnappers said they were calling from Niamey in the Niger Republic, adding that if I wanted to see my daughter alive, I should pay them $100,000,” the father, who is trader, told a Punch reporter.
Nwaigwe explained how the kidnappers allowed him to speak with his daughter on the phone, and how the Nigerian police trapped the abductors to send an account number to pay in the ransom.
You can read details on Punch.
It will be recalled that a 33-year-old man, Anthony Egidi, told how he had madebig money through the kidnap business before his arrest on October 26 in Benin city.
Also, a High Court sitting at Asaba in Delta State, recently sentenced the kidnappers of Elizabeth Otidi, wife of a former Ughelli South local government council chairman, to 51 years imprisonment as part of efforts to deter people from indulging in the illicit business.
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