Bayelsa: Suspected Kidnappers Strangle Principal after Collecting Ransom

By Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa

Suspected kidnappers who abducted an ailing 72-year-old retired principal, Chief Sunday Festus, in Bayelsa State two weeks ago have strangled him to death after getting a ransom from his relatives.

No member of the victim’s family was willing to divulge how much was paid before the hoodlums agreed to release the septuagenarian as agreed during negotiations.

But a source told THISDAY that a N4 million ransom was deposited at an agreed location before the suspects showed the shocked family where their patriarch’s remains were deposited.

They reportedly asked those who went to deliver the money to lie with their faces down, collected their phones before bolting with the ransom.

The old man was  seized  by a four-man gang in his residence at riverine Bomo clan in Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of the state in the early hours of Monday almost two weeks ago.

During the operation, the hoodlums also injured a 13-year-old boy who was staying with the deceased and attempted to resist the kidnap of the pensioner.

The late educationist, who was said to be diabetic, was said to be recovering from the ailment when his abductors whisked him away at about 3:26am on the day at the Foinbiri waterside at about 3:10am after breaking the door protectors and forcing him into a waiting double 75 horsepower speedboat.

When THISDAY visited the Federal Medical Centre where the body of the deceased was being prepared to be deposited in the morgue, bruises were seen all over it.