Portharcourt – The Mother of one of the bus passengers kidnapped on Monday along the Bori axis of Rivers state has revealed that her twenty-two-year-old daughter was on her way to Ken Sarowiwa Polytechnic to pick up her Higher National Diploma (HND) form, when their bus was hijacked by gunmen.
The woman, who gave her daughter’s name as Chinatu Friday, said she is an Ordinary National Diploma (OND) holder from the Polytechnic and is undergoing her one-year compulsory industrial training.
The alleged hijack and kidnap incident had filtered in late Monday and had caused panic among residents of the area.
The Rivers state Police Command had on Wednesday, said reports that gunmen hijacked a bus filled with students and were demanding a N2milllion ransom is false.
Spokesperson of the Command, Nnamdi Omoni in a statement said preliminary investigation carried out with the School Authorities revealed that no such thing happened, adding that no parent reported a case of a missing person and that the Polytechnic in question has been on holidays and only resumed on Monday with scanty activities.
But while speaking with TNC correspondent on Wednesday, the mother of the kidnapped girl said the family has already reported the incident to the Rivers State Police Command.
According to her, the daughter confirmed that seven passengers were on board the hijacked bus.
“It was on Monday, she went to buy her HND form. She left the house by 8am and at about past 6 that evening, she called me was crying. She said that their bus was hijacked and the passengers kidnapped. She said they were about 7 in the bus. As I was talking with her, one of the kidnappers snatched the phone from her and said she is under their custody and then switched off the phone. I dialed the number again and the same man picked and said if I refuse to comply with the directive they will give me, they will kill her the next day,” she narrated.
She regretted that since she made report to the security agencies, nothing has been heard of her daughter’s whereabouts, urging the security agencies to intensify action to secure the release of her daughter.
“Since that day, I have not tasted anything. All I am asking is the safe return of my daughter. I am begging the security agents to please speed up efforts to ensure that my daughter returns safely,” she pleaded.
