The abductors of the Director of News, Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation, Priestba Anthony-Wokocha, have demanded for N150 million as a ransom to free the Port Harcourt-based journalist.
This was made known by the husband of the victim, Anthony Wokocha, who stated that the family was contacted by the abductors.
Anthony disclosed this when members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, Rivers State branch, paid a visit to the family, to empathise with them on the unfortunate incident.
He said the kidnappers contacted him on Saturday and asked him to get the ransom for his wife’s freedom.
He also disclosed that the matter is being handled by a special unit of the Rivers State Police Command.
Meanwhile, troops of Operation Hadarin Daji, OPHD, a military component, have neutralized seven terrorists after intensifying onslaughts on their enclaves, recovering weapons and other logistics in Mango Sabuwal in Wanaka district of Gusau, Zamfara State.
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The information was revealed by operatives of the OPHD shortly after the troops confronted the bandits in their enclaves, saying that the military would not tolerate continuous attacks on innocent citizens of the State.
“We are on top of the issue and are defeating the ravaging bandits, just now we neutralized seven of them who attempted to attack us in the forest”, one of the operatives, identified as John added.
According to him, the terrorists in their large numbers attempted to attack the troops at Kango Sabuwal village, but the gallant troops of the OPHD deployed at Forward Operating Base Wanke organized an ambush operation and successfully neutralized seven armed bandits in the late hours of 24 July 2023.
“Shortly after the encounter, the troops proceeded in pursuit of other fleeing bandits, in the process we recovered one machine gun, ammunitions and six motorcycles from the armed bandits,” he added.
The commander of Operation Daji, Major General Mutkut has commended the troops for their resilience, gallantry and act of bravery in dealing with the bandits.