A driver identified as Tigidam Bright has been arrested for allegedly conniving with two suspected kidnappers to abduct his boss’ wife after he was sacked from his job.
Bright was arrested alongside the other suspects named Isaac Michael and Leera Barisua by operatives of the Inspector-General of the Police Intelligence Response Team in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Gunmen reportedly kidnapped Gift, the wife of an Ogoni human rights activist, Gani Topba, on August 25, at the entrance of an estate where she lives and took her to their den in Khana area of the state.
They reportedly demanded N100m ransom initially but later reduced it to N500,000, which was paid by the family before she was released.
IRT detectives investigating the kidnap incident were said to have traced a mobile phone the gang used for negotiating the ransom to an unnamed man who assisted them in arresting the two accomplices.
During the course of interrogation, the duo mentioned Bright as the mastermind and he was also apprehended.
On his part, Bright said he told his friends (Michael and Barisua) how his boss of eight years allegedly sacked him unjustly and they promised to help deal with him.
The driver however denied orchestrating Gift’s abduction but confessed to have gotten N100,000 from the ransom.
He claimed that he collected the money because he was scared his friends might kill him if he failed to cooperate with them.
One of the accomplices, Michael expressed that he was introduced to kidnapping by a friend at large, identified simply as Mark, who in turn linked him up with Barisua, to form a four-man gang.
Meanwhile, Barisua, a graduate of Electrical Engineering, said he went into kidnapping after losing his job at an oil company in Port Harcourt, but insisted that he did not participate in Gift’s abduction.
