The Secretary to the Ondo State Government, Bar-rister Isaacs Kekemeke, was yesterday kidnapped by members of the Mov-ement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) operating in creeks of Arogbo in Ese-Odo Local Gover-nment Area of the state.
However, there were reports last night that he had been released.
Kekemeke, an Arogbo man, was kidnapped in his hometown during the ward congress of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), after the militants had disarmed the mobile policemen that escorted him to Arogbo.
The kidnap of the SSG came barely two months after the militants kidnapped 11 chieftains of the PDP over the alleged failure of Governor Olusegun Agagu to honour the agreement reached with them during the April 14 gubernatorial election.
A top security source said the SSG was kidnapped for his �arrogance and boastfulness� during the kidnap saga of the PDP leaders. He had said the government did not enter into any agreement with the militants during the election.
According to the source, one of the militants simply called Chief Kiribo said the SSG was kidnapped to teach him a lesson and to watch his utterances as they would not demand for any ransom before releasing him.
Besides, the militants were also said to have been irked by the decision of Kekemeke to come to the area with fully armed policemen.
However, the state government has said the issue was a �family affair� among the people of Arogbo, as the SSG was in his local government area.
The Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Mobilisation, Chief Eddy Olafeso, said the issue would be resolved as the traditional rulers and other important people in the area had been informed.
He said the people merely invited him for a meeting on the development of Arogbo, a minority community of the state.
Olafeso said the militants had promised to allow Kekemeke to go, saying that the development should not be seen as a case of kidnap.
During the hostage crisis of the 11 PDP leaders two months ago, Kekemeke had said government would not negotiate with the people on the release of the hostages, calling them “mere criminals and miscreants looking for attention in order dupe unsuspecting publics”.
�Kekemeke said: “They are people looking for attention. They are people who should be arrested and resisted. They should be made to face the wrath of the law for committing crime. Those PDP members they kidnapped are Ijaw people. If you say you are fighting for Ijaw, why kidnap them? Why spoil their environment with black oil?
“The people are operating from only two wards out of the 203 political wards in the state and how would two wards lead to the emergence of the governor. Instead of giving the people N500million the fund would be used for the development of the region which had been neglected by successive administrations in the”.
Nov72007