SHOCKING: Okonjo Iweala’s Mother Kidnapped?

Gunmen Sunday abducted the mother of the Minister of Finance, Prof Okonjo-Iweala in Ogwahi-Uku, Delta State.

Okonjo-Iweala’s mother who is the wife of His Majesty, Professor Chukwuka Aninshi Okonjo Agbogidi, the reigning Obi of Ogwashi-Uku kingdom was kidnapped Sunday at about 1:30 pm from the husband’s palace at Ogbe-Ofu quarters in Ogwahi-Uku by eight gunmen who stormed the palace in two Audi cars.

It could not be immediately ascertained if security men were at the palace when she was kidnapped.

Delta State police public relations officer, PPRO, Mr. Charles Muka in his reaction said  “yes, we (police) have got the information on the kidnap and we have also got information that will lead to the arrest of the hoodlums”.

According to a dependable source, the woman who is a trained medical doctor and a professor was pushed into one of the Audi cars and driven to an unknown destination.

The source, who pleaded anonymity, said security agents have been drafted to the palace for fear of the unknown.

A senior police officer in the State who pleaded anonymity however said that massive manhunt has commenced to rescue the Queen of Ogwashi-Uku.

Source: Vanguard

UPDATE: How she was kidnapped

The kidnap of Professor Kamene Okonjo, the 82-year old mother of Nigeria's finance minister Ngozi okonjo-Iweala was executed by a group of daredevil kidnappers who disguised as palace guards while her husband was traveling in Abuja.

A man in police custody who allegedly led the kidnappers to Mrs. Okonjo's compound a few minutes before the incident took place  was said to have informed the housemaid that he was in the palace to take the queen mother to somewhere in the town for a traditional event.

Other kidnappers numbering 10 were lurking around the palace until Mrs. Okonjo and her maid came down to offer refreshments to some men  working to fix the palace gate.

Eyewitness accounts said that as soon as the woman stepped out of the main building, heading towards the gate, the kidnappers moved in from the gate, and pushed her into a waiting  Volkswagen Golf car.

In a telephone chat, one of the palace chiefs, who requested anonymity, told our reporter that the abductors were armed to teeth, and that had taken hostage the workers at the gate who were fixing interlocking tiles in the palace, ordering them to lie face down.

“Immediately they saw our king’s wife, the Queen Mother who was coming towards the gate with her maid to serve the workers soft drinks, she was seized and thrown into a waiting Golf car while another car was parked outside”.

Another eyewitness further said: “One of kidnappers, bracing all odds, went upstairs to collect the Queen Mother’s handbag. Another maid who sighted the kidnapper upstairs hid herself in the kitchen.”
Professor Okonjo is a retired profesor of sociology at the University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka.

Source: Sahara Reporters