Barely 48hours after the Imo State governor, Chief Ikedi Ohakim revealed that government has uncovered plans by ‘agents of darkness’ to kidnap more prominent Imo citizens, a member of the Imo State House of Assembly (IMHA) has been kidnapped by suspected criminals who have been terrorizing the hitherto serene state in the last three weeks. The latest victim of the spate of ransom-driven kidnaps in recent times, Hon. Celestine Ngobiwu, representing Obowo state constituency at the IMHA was reportedly kidnapped about 7pm on Wednesday in Owerri, the state capital while on an evening outing.
Following the ugly incident rattled members of the House of Assembly have been putting heads together to enable them secure the release of one of their abducted colleague, Hon. Ngobiwo whose where about has remained unknown Wednesday Kidnap of the lawmaker was the third in the series in the past three weeks within the state as the wife of the MD/CEO of ABC Transport, Lady Ngozi Nneji, the father of a prominent politician Tony Chukwu had earlier been recorded. Ngobiwu, was the former House Committee chairman on Works. Until his abduction he is the current chairman of the committee on Project Monitoring.
According to sources, the kidnapers have contacted his family but had not mentioned any amount of money as ransom for the release of the lawmaker Investigations revealed that the kidnappers have contacted some members of the House and his family but no amount of money has been mentioned. Reacting to the incident, the Deputy Speaker, Chief Jonas Okeke, confirmed the incident and admitted that contacts have been made as the House was deliberating on the development . Describing the incident as unfortunate, the Deputy Speaker assured that the House would do its best in ensuring the early release of the kidnapped lawmaker even as he urged all and sundry to join in the fight against the menace of kidnapping in the state. When contacted the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Imo State command, Mr. Linus Nwaiwu (ASP) said that the command has not received any official report relating to the said kidnap. It would be recalled that the police in the state had continued to deny official knowledge of all the recent kidnap cases.
Meanwhile, the rising spate of kidnapping in Imo has become a source of serious concern to the citizenry resulting in increasing tension and panic as many of the wellto- do had resorted to hasty evacuation of their children from the state while movement generally tend to suffer drastic slowdown. The latest abduction has further exposed the porous security situation in the state causing a drastic decline in night-life within the capital city and its environs, despite reechoed security programmes initiated to contain the wild situation.