ThisDay Online, Nigeria Tuesday, October 09, 2007 Another Lawmaker's Father Kidnapped From Ahamefula Ogbu in Port Harcourt and Segun James in Yenagoa, 10.10.2007 Bayelsa Dare devil gunmen in the early hours of Tuesday stormed the country home of Bayelsa State lawmaker, Honourable Ebioudu Komonibo, representing Kolokuma/Opokuma constituency I, and kidnapped his 82 years old father. The octogenarian, Jeffy Komonibo who is blind was picked from his Odi, Kolokuma/Opokuma local government residence by a yet to be identified militant group. This happened just as militants who stormed Saipem yard in Rumuolumeni September 26, 2007 and made away with two expatriates, Libardo Valderrama (Filipino) and Albert Bacani Montemayor (Colombian) and a Nigerian while a third, a Columbian, Henry Delgado Corrales was shot dead, have insisted on being paid N150 million before they will release them. To ensure that the Joint Task Force and other Security agencies that had been on their trail lose track of where they are keeping the hostages, they have resorted to moving them from one point to the other in the creeks. As at yesterday, security sources said they have moved the hostages "deep into the creeks" thereby making it more difficult for them to storm and possibly free the hostages like they did in the case of Dave Worth where they over-powered, arrested and detained the militants while they freed the hostage. THISDAY gathered that the heavily armed gunmen who kidnapped the lawmaker's father arrived the community which was the theatre of the 1999 Odi massacre in two speed boats and a precision move headed for Pa. Komonibo's home which is on the bank of the river to pick him up. The kidnappers were said to have shot sporadically into the air to scare away anybody who might want to dare them. Eyewitness account has it that while some of the gunmen went to the lawmaker's for the operation, the boat drivers who were also heavily armed waited with their engine running. The octogenarian was easily picked up as he could neither resist them nor know the people who had come for him as he is blind. THISDAY was told by a little niece of the lawmaker who lives with the old man at Odi that the old man was in the sitting room of his house with his wife when the suspected gunmen invaded the community. As at the time of this report, the fate of Pa Komonibo is unknown as he was said to be frail and sickly. The operation it was gathered lasted a few minutes as the gunmen met no resistance throughout the time of the operation as they succeeded in whisking the octogenarian to an unknown destination. A youth leader in the community who spoke under the condition of anonymity stated that the kidnapped elderly man has been on drug for some time now and appealed to the kidnappers to release him on time because of his deteriorating health condition. On whether any demand was made, the youth leader said that he could not ascertain, as the entire community was under siege during the period the incident lasted. Confirming the incident, the Police Public Relation Officer, Iniobong Ibokette said, the lawmaker's father was kidnapped yesterday and the matter is still under investigation. As at the time of filing this report, no arrest has been made but the security has been beefed up around the area. Also five persons were yesterday taken before a Federal High Court in Port Harcourt and charged with kidnapping Dave Worth. Their pleas, however, could not be taken as the Prosecutor; Mr. Tony Umana was not in Court. An attempt by one Ernest Chika to hold his brief and go ahead with the case was stopped by the presiding judge, Hon Justice Reginald Nwodo who insisted that he could not be heard in the case as a private counsel. No plea was taken. He needed a fiat from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation to do that and since he had none, the judge insisted that the accused should be taken back to where they were coming from and appear before her today. http://www.thisdayonline.com/nview.php?id=91848 BlindNews Mailing List Subscribe: BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "subscribe" as subject Unsubscribe: BlindNews-Request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with "unsubscribe" as subject Moderator: BlindNews-Moderators@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Archive: http://GeoffAndWen.com/blind RSS: http://GeoffAndWen.com/BlindNewsRSS.asp More information about RSS feeds will be published shortly.