The kidnappers responsible for the abduction of a popular nightclub owner in Bayelsa State, Mr. Tari Ajanami have released him.
It was however gathered that the kidnappers abducted his 38-year old wife and 74-year-old father-in-law who came to pay the ransom for his release.
Naija News recalls Ajanami was abducted on Wednesday, July 28 at about 6 pm at his building project site along Otiotio Road in Yenegoa, the state capital.
The kidnappers had demanded the sum of N200 million to release the nightclub owner but the family members took along N15 million to the scene of the exchange.
It was at that point the gunmen released the club owner himself but held on to his wife and father-in-law as a guarantee that the balance ransom will be paid.
According to Vanguard, the businessman was released on Thursday at an exchange point in Ahaoda Local Government Area of Rivers State.
It is understood that the ransom exchange was done without the knowledge of security agencies.
A close family source quoted in the report on what transpired during the ransom exchange lamented that the freshly abducted wife is hypertensive and was not with her drugs when the gunmen took her.
He pleaded with the kidnappers to release the victims.
He said: “We are however waiting to hear from the kidnappers. We learnt their Satellite Mobile Phone gadget fell into the water during the ransom exchange.
“You know N15m was taken to the ransom exchange point. The kidnappers collected the money and maybe held unto the wife and her father in order to demand for more money from the victim. We plead with the kidnappers to tamper justice with mercy.”
Meanwhile, the Maiduguri Zonal Command of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) on Friday docked one Muhammad Abdullahi Kulloma before Justice Aisha Kumaliya of the Borno State High Court, Maiduguri.
Naija News understands that the arraignment was over an alleged N40, 500, 000.00 (Forty Million, Five Hundred Thousand Naira) fraud, contrary to Section 1(1) (b) of the Advance Fee Fraud and Other Fraud Related Offences Act, 2006 and punishable under Section 1(3) of the same Act.
The defendant who was docked alongside his firm, Mbuta Criterion Nigeria Limited, allegedly deceived his victim, Modu Mustapha Tijjani, the Managing Director of Gumalti Nigeria Limited, and obtained the above-mentioned sum in tranches of N27.5million and N13million through his personal and company’s accounts with GTB respectively, under the guise of financing a contract awarded to him by a Non-Governmental Organisation, Mercy Corps, for the supply of locally made cooking stoves.
This article was originally published on Nigeria News