The family of kidnapped Nollywood actress and Special Assistant to the Governor Rochas Okorocha on Public Affairs, Nkiruka Sylvanus, have said that they paid her abductors N8 million to facilitate her release. But the police have kicked against the action of the diva’s family, saying that they paid the ransom against their (the police) advice and without their knowledge.
The Imo State Commissioner of Police, Baba Adisa Bolanta, yesterday in Owerri, the Imo State capital said that the family paid the ransom despite repeated warnings from the police that no dime should be paid to the kidnappers of the movie star.
Bolanta, at told reporters at a press briefing at the Police Command Headquarters that the law enforcement agency had initially recovered and returned the initial N7million the family gave to the criminals during a raid of the criminals’ hideout.
“On the 19 December there was an arrangement by the family to pay N7million, the money was recovered when we raided the criminals’ den. After the raid we returned the N7million back to the family.
But we were surprised to hear that they offered N8million to the kidnappers,” he explained. Although the Police Commissioner disclosed that during the raid none of the kidnappers was arrested, he said that the family did not listen to the advice of the police not to part with the ransom as the police were on top of the situation. “We were able to comb the area without getting anybody, but we were able to recover the money,” he said.
The police boss added that, “initially, the family paid N7million to the kidnappers and the police who laid ambush swooped on them at the point of collection and recovered the money that was locked in the trunk of their car as they escaped.”
According to him, “after we returned the money to the family, they went behind us and paid N8milliom to the kidnappers. Surprisingly, I saw Nkiru in my office after she was released and I was told they paid N8million to secure her release”.
Bolanta however assured the people that the fleeing kidnappers would be brought to book. “Let me assure you that this will not go unresolved like previous cases, anyone involved will be brought to book, we have made some arrests and very soon the ones that are at large will be apprehended”.
“We have made some arrests in connection with the case and very soon they will all be apprehended. “Let me assure the good people of Imo that we will not rest until all forms of criminality has been eradicated from this state,’’ he added.
Meanwhile, Governor Rochas Okorocha has ordered the release of N500 million as Christmas package for security operatives in the state.
Okorocha who gave the directive during an expanded Security Council meeting at the Ahajioku Centre in the state capital, directed that every security agent operating in the state, should be given N10, 000 each from the largesse, saying that the gesture was to appreciate the security agencies for fighting crime in the state, especially the successful release of the kidnapped thespian.
Commending the State Police Command, Okorocha reiterated the commitment of his administration in partnering with security agencies to stamp out crime in the state, especially kidnapping and other heinous crime, reaffirming the earlier ban on unauthorized use of vehicles with tinted glasses and siren in the state.
The governor also chided legal practitioners in the state for aiding and abetting kidnappers by frustrating the efforts of the state to prosecute them.
“The lawyers are the worst enemies of the state, in Imo state, every kidnapper has a lawyer he pays to wriggle him out when he is caught up with the law,” the governor added.
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