A three-year-old girl, whose name was given as Nuseiba Usman, was on Wednesday evening kidnapped in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by a gang of armed men, who started off by robbing a neighbourhood.
The kidnappers have made contact with the parents of Nuseiba, demanding a ransom put differently by various sources as ranging from N5 million to N50 million.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that the father of the victim, Mr. Anisaba Usman, an indigene of Kogi State, is an employee of Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC).
According to a source, a gang of armed robbers, about 15 in number, had descended on the Nigerian National Petroleum Commission (NNPC) quarters at Akpajo Eleme in Eleme Local Government Area of Rivers State at about 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, robbing from one apartment to the other.
They, however, kidnapped Nuseiba when they got to the Shell staff area of the quarters apparently because her father was not found in the flat when they entered the apartment.
One of the Usman�s neighbours said, �they were robbers and they had robbed many apartments before getting to where Shell workers stay. They started from the boys quarters and moved on like that, but I learnt that before they got to their flat, the father of the girl had run away and for that, they decided to take his daughter hostage.�
According to him, the father of the girl must have sensed that he was to be a target of the robbers� attack, hence his decision to run away.
He confirmed that the hoodlums had contacted the family through the phone and were demanding a ransom of N50 million before the girl would be released.
When reached on the phone, the Army Public Relations Officer of the 2 Amphibious Brigade, Major Sagir Musa, confirmed the incident, adding that the mother of the hostage was at the brigade headquarters on Thursday and was directed to the State Security Service (SSS).
He confirmed that the hoodlums had contacted the parents of the hostage, demanding for N50 million.
Efforts to reach the state�s Police Commissioner, Mr. Felix Ogbaudu, were not successful as his phones were switched off. This was the second kidnap incident in Port Harcourt area within one week. A cousin of the chairman of the Rivers State chapter of the Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria (IPMAN), Mr. Ben Dimkpa, was kidnapped on Monday evening from his home at Woji waterfront. The abductors had demanded for a N10 million ransom.