adminLocal Government Area of oil-rich Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.
The Ibeno community hosts Mobil Producing Nigeria’s Qua Iboe oil export terminal and the Qua Iboe oil fields.
The kidnappers struck a few minutes after midnight and abducted the traditional ruler at gun point and took him to an unknown destination.
Community people who witnessed the incident at the traditional ruler’s compound said yesterday that the kidnappers were eight in number and took away the chief through the Atlantic coastline.
The hoodlums, according to the sources, came in two speed boats. State commissioner of police Solomon Arase confirmed the incident to Xinhua in a telephone interview yesterday.
“The divisional police officer in Ibeno briefed me on the kidnap of the traditional ruler, but I have asked him to furnish me with the details,” he added.
“The victim was said to have held meetings with some people till late into the night before he was abducted,” Arase said. Afia, who is the co-ordinator of chiefs in Ibeno, has been deliberating with segments of the community on the 600 million naira share of the oil spill palliative funds from Mobil to its host communities in the past weeks.
The 2 billion naira oil spill palliative fund recently released by Mobil Producing Nigeria has triggered discontent in oil bearing communities in Ibeno, Onna, Eket and Esit Eket communities in Akwa Ibom.
The oil firm insisted that the fund was for community development projects to be executed by its contractors while members of the community preferred cash pay out to the oil spill victims. – Xinhua.
Online Reporter