BAYELSA STATE SPEAKER: KIDNAPERS DEMAND N40Million RANSOM

When shall this “stealing” of human beings end in Nigeria?

For  involving himself  in the fight against cultism in the state and the passage of the Anti-Cultism Bill into Law, the Speaker of the Bayelsa State Assembly, Kombowei Benson, has said yesterday was the reason his 78 year old mother, Mrs Betinah Benson was abducted. The bill provided a minimum sentence of 10 years to anyone found guilty of cult related activities in the state. Mrs. Benson was kidnapped in the early hours of Monday this week from her country home in Korokorosei village in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state. According to the Bayelsa Speaker, the kidnapers have contacted him and are members of a dreaded cult group in the state. He said they have demanded N40million as ransom. The Speaker also revealed that the kidnappers confirmed that his alleged interference in the election of officers for the Community Development Committee in his area and the alleged frosty relationship among the leadership of the State House of Assembly was part of the reasons he was targeted. He however said the abductors allowed him to speak with his mother and that she sounded good, “indicating she is fine notwithstanding the condition.”