The royal father was abducted in the early hours of Friday by gunmen who whisked him away to an unknown destination from where they were said to be making contacts with the distraught subjects on the payment of the said ransom.
A community source told Sunday Sun: “The kidnappers have opened their lines and they have been talking with some major stakeholders in the community and making demand for the sum of N50 million for the king to be freed.”
But Public Relations Officer of the state police command, DSP Celestina Kalu advised the family not to rush to pay ransom, assuring that security operatives have been deplored to comb the area and free
the monarch, unhurt.
Kalu urged members of the community to remain calm and go about their legal activities as security agencies were on top of the situation.
It would be recalled that about three months ago, kidnappers abandoned their victim, Dr. Idodo Umeh at Olomoro when the police in collaboration with local vigilante chased the hoodlums and almost
caught them.
Meanwhile, the abduction of Agbaza brings to two the number of traditional rulers that have been kidnapped within the last three weeks in the state.
On January 5, the Obi of Ubulu-Uku in Aniocha South Local Government Area, Akaeze Edward Ofolue III was idnapped by suspected herdsmen, and his decomposing corpse was discovered after 19 days of the bizarre abduction. Obi Ofolue’s kidnap and subsequent brutal murder was still raising dust among stakeholders in the oil-rich state when another set of hoodlums struck in Isoko, taking the traditional ruler of Olomoro hostage in the process.
The Delta State Traditional Rulers’ Council had in the wake of the murder of Obi Ofolue, expressed fears about the security of monarchs in the state, calling on the state government to fish out the perpetrators of the heinous act.
Rising from a meeting in Asaba, the state capital, the royal fathers in a three-point communique signed by acting chairman, Obi Emmanuel Efeizomor of Owa Kingdom urged the government to put necessary machinery in motion to guarantee the security of traditional rulers.
According to the communique, the royal fathers described as unacceptable a situation where criminal elements were constantly terrorizing monarchs and the entire citizenry.
They also appealed to their subjects at home and in the Diaspora to collaborate with government in terms of providing adequate security for traditional institutions.
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