How gunmen kidnapped Finance Minister, Okonjo-Iweala’s mother

Armed kidnappers numbering about 10 were lurking around the palace of Professor Chukwuka Okonjo the ruler of Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State until Professor Kanene Okonjo, mother of the Minister for Finance and her maid came down to offer some drinks to workers at the gate before she was swiftly kidnapped.

The 82-year-old monarch’s wife was said to have been abducted at about 1.47pm by a gang of armed men who seized her at the gate of the palace at Ogbe-ofu and took her away, when her husband travelled out of the town.

But the Police command in the state has said a man, who was said to have left the palace a few minutes before the incident, had been arrested.

The man was said to have informed the housemaid that he was in the palace to take the octogenarian to somewhere in the town.

The kidnappers, numbering about 10, were said to be lurking around the palace until the woman and her maid came down to offer some drinks to workers at the gate.

Eyewitness said as soon as the woman came down from the main building, towards the gate, the criminals also moved in from the gate to grab and push her into a waiting Golf Volkswagen car.

“Immediately they saw her (the King’s wife) they bundled her into a waiting Golf car while another car was parked outside.”

It was learnt that one of them went upstairs to collect the woman’s handbag. The eyewitness said another maid, who sighted the kidnappers upstairs, hid herself in the kitchen.

The atmosphere at the palace was gloomy on Sunday as many sympathisers and well wishers, including members of the community vigilance group, gathered to discuss the development.

State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Charles Muoka, who confirmed the kidnap to newsmen on Sunday, said the police had collected information that would be useful enough to track down the kidnappers.

Her husband, Obi Chukwuka Okonjo, a retired professor of Economics, is the traditional ruler of Ogwashi-Uku.

The kidnappers have yet to make contact with the family of their victim.