Kidnapped Wife Of Ex-Bayelsa Acting Gov Freed

THE kidnapped Mrs. Martha Binabo, wife of the former Acting Governor of Bayelsa State, Nestor Binabo, has regained her freedom.

Sources indicated that she was released at 11.am on Sunday July 5, 2015 in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

The 48-year-old Mrs. Binabo was kidnapped at her business premises at Agbura, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State at 11.30 last Monday by a five-man gang dressed in Army uniform.

Agbura is barely five kilometers from former President Goodluck Jonathan’s Otuoke community in Ogbia Local Government Area.

Binabo, who was the Speaker of the state House of Assembly, became acting governor after former Governor Timipre Sylva was sacked by the Supreme Court in January 2012.

Although the family was silent on the payment of ransom to secure her freedom, her husband, Binabo, had on Saturday told Sylva, who paid a solidarity visit to the couple’s home in Azikoro,Yenagoa, that his wife would be released soon.

The hoodlums had stormed the warehouse of Mrs. Binabo at about 11. 30 am in a Toyota vehicle.

They took her to the waterside of nearby Otuokpoti, a neighbouring Ogbia community, from where they escaped in a stand-by boat after setting the Toyota car ablaze.

The victim’s husband had, after the abduction, alluded that the kidnap was politically motivated, insisting that he could not be cowed by anybody.

Sylva was said to have been elated that Binabo was strong despite his wife’s ordeal.

The former governor stressed that it was important for a leader to be prepared for anything that came his way.

Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Asinim Butswat, could not be reached for comments at press time.