Kidnappers of Chief Basoene Snithers-Briggs 87, a chief in Abonnema, Akuku Toru Local Government Area, who was kidnapped from his home in the seaside community, have demanded the sum of N5million for his release, to be paid in the new currency.
National Point spoke with one of the children of the ailing Chief, who spends his fourth week in the hands of the masked men who took him from his home and initially demanded ransom of N100million. “We have been able to speak with my Father about three times since the kidnap, after they made contact with the family. His abductors are now demanding the sum of N5million in the new currency. How are we expected to get such amount in the first place then, in the new currency? We are still negotiating’. He noted, shaking his head
Chief Snithers Briggs, 87 year was forcibly taken away from his home in the early hours of Sunday January 29, 2023 a few hours after returning home from the burial of Prof Charles Dokubo, former Administrator of the Presidential Amnesty Programme PAP.
The old man was whisked into a boat driven by his armed abductors, clothed only in his trousers and taken away to an unknown destination. He was not allowed to take his pack of drugs. The men kept up a barrage of shots ongoing throughout the operation.
The kidnappers had moved from an initial N100million ransom demand to N20million last week and finally, they brought the amount demanded down to N5million.
The family is deeply concerned about the family patriarch who suffers threatening age related ailments and has not been taking his drugs.
– By Sirah Lemmy
