Kidnappers have abducted a Port Harcourt-based poet, identified as Kennedy Adele.
Nigeriacrime.com gathered that Adiele was kidnapped in Port Harcourt on Monday while returning from Abuja.
Adele went for a performance at the Abuja but had arrived late to Port Harcourt when gunmen accosted the vehicle he was in with other occupants and whisked them away to an unknown destination.
The wife of the victim, Faith Adele, confirmed that her husband could not get home after he left Abuja home, adding that the kidnappers have called and are demanding N20 million ransom.
She said: “He was kidnapped on Monday 11th of September. The kidnappers reached out to me on Tuesday around 10 a.m. demanding a ransom of N 20 million.
“And they have me till today, but I pray God will see us through this tough time.
However, the spokesperson of the state police command, Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, stated said the police were yet to receive any official report on the development.
Iringe-Koko said: “We are yet to get such a report. If there is anything of such, I’m appealing to them to report to the nearest police station so we can verify and begin investigation.”
In a related development, gunmen have kidnapped a popular Port Harcourt-based comedian, David Uwakwe, professionally called MC Dave.
The entertainer was abducted on Sunday around Rumukalagbo area of Port Harcourt City Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Nigeriacrime.com learned that the victim was returning from a show he had attended around University of Port Harcourt before he was picked by his abductors.
A relative, who did not want his name mentioned, disclosed that the kidnappers came in police uniform but with their faces masked.
The source said the kidnappers had stopped their target around 2 a.m., called him by his name and asked him to gently enter their stationed vehicle.
The relative said: “he was kidnapped on Sunday while he was returning from a show. The people who kidnapped him appeared like policemen. They even called him by his name, but they were masked.
“They took him since that Sunday around Rumukalagbor. People saw them but they could not do anything because the people were armed and appeared as if they were police.
It said the criminals had driven office with their victim and that the kidnappers only established contact with the victim’s family on Wednesday.
“They have established contact with the family and they are demanding N 25 million. I don’t know where they want the family to get that amount of money from.”
Confirming the incident, the Public Relations Officer of State Police Command, Grace Iringe-Koko, a Superintendent of Police, said the victim was returning from an event before the kidnapped picked him up, adding that police have started investigations.