One Week After, Kidnappers Yet To Free Goodluck Jonathan’s Cousin

Goodluck Jonathan

It has been more than a week since the abduction of Mr Jephthah Robert Yekorogha, cousin to former President Goodluck Jonathan, by gunmen in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State, but the kidnappers are yet to free the politician.

Yekorogha, who was kidnapped at his residence in Yenagoa, the state capital on Monday, January 24, has spent over a week in the kidnappers’ den.

A closed family source, who pleaded anonymity, told Daily Trust that the abductors are yet to contact the family to demand ransom or state the motive behind the abduction.

He, however, expressed fears over the safety of the kidnapped politician.

The family of Mr Yekorogha had appealed to the kidnappers to release their brother unconditionally, without harm for peace in Bayelsa State.

A younger brother of the abducted man and founder of Zeetin Engineering company, Mr Aziboala Robert, in a statement confirming the abduction, said the situation is receiving maximum attention from the security agencies.

When contacted, the Police spokesman in Bayelsa State, SP Asinim Butswat, who confirmed that Mr Yekorogha is still in captivity, told Daily Trust that the operatives from the command were still investigating the incident to free the victim and apprehend the culprits.

Several residents of the state have ascribed the recent rise in the spate of kidnapping and other crimes in the state to the ongoing war on illegal refining by both the Bayelsa and Rivers State governments, a situation they said has made the youths who engaged in the business to return to the creeks and perpetrate all sort of crimes.

The Commissioner of Police in Bayelsa State, Mr Ben Nebolisa, has already declared four youths from Otuokpoti community in Ogbia Local Government Area wanted in connection to kidnap incidents in the area.

The affected youths were said to be among the people driven out from Rivers State communities where they were carrying out illegal refining business.