A former Minister of Environment, Mrs.
Lawrencia Laraba-Mallam, and her husband, Pius, were on Monday evening abducted
by gunmen along the Abuja–Kaduna Expressway.
It was learnt that the couple were on their
way from Abuja when they ran into a roadblock, mounted by the hoodlums, along
the Jere area of the highway around 7pm.
The incident occurred in spite of the
drafting of 510 riot policemen on the road by the Inspector-General of Police,
Ibrahim Idris, on August 5, 2016 to check kidnappings and other criminal
activities.
The deployment, which was backed by 40
patrol vehicles and armoured personnel carriers, was expected to man dark spots
and vulnerable points along the road which had become notorious for kidnapping
and other violent crimes.
Idris, who was represented by the Deputy
Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operation, Habila Joshak, during the
inauguration of ‘Operation Maximum Safety,’ directed the operatives to curb all
forms of criminal activities in the area and provide security for commuters and
residents of surrounding communities.
The deployment of the policemen followed
the abduction of the Sierra Leonean Deputy High Commissioner to Nigeria, Maj.
Gen. Alfred Nelson (retd.), on the Abuja-Kaduna highway in July, 2016.
The Force Public Relations Officer, Donald
Awunah, could not be reached for comment on the failure of the policemen to
prevent the kidnap of the former minister and her husband.
He did not respond to calls to his mobile
and he had yet to reply to an SMS sent to him as of the time of filing this
report.
The kidnappers have established contact
with the family and demanded a ransom of N10m.
A source, who spoke on condition of
anonymity on Tuesday, said, “The incident occurred between 7pm and 7.30pm. The
driver of the car was spared and it was when he returned home and narrated the
story that we got to know that the former minister and the husband had been
kidnapped.
“They (kidnappers) made contact with the
family around 10am this morning (Tuesday) and said we must bring N10m before
they can release them.”
A visit to the home of the Mallams on
Tuesday, observed that visitors and well-wishers had been trooping to their
residence in Kaduna.
The family members refused to talk on the
abduction for security reasons.
“It is very possible that the kidnappers didn’t
know their identities, otherwise the ransom could have been higher than the
N10m demanded.
“You know these people can be callous; the
moment they know the true identity of the victims, they can jack up the
ransom,” a family source confided .
The Kaduna State Police Public Relations
Officer, Aliyu Usman, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed
the incident, saying the former minister and her husband were
whisked away while the driver was spared.
Usman said the command was doing all it
could to ensure that the couple regained their freedom.
Lawrencia was the National President of the
Catholic Women Organisation of Nigeria before she was appointed a minister by
ex-President Goodluck Jonathan.
Source:The Punch
Tags
Society