Reports say a driver, Tigidam Bright, has been arrested for complicity in the kidnapping of his boss’ wife, Mrs Gift Topba, in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
The driver alongside two other suspected kidnappers – Isaac Michael, and Leera Barisua, were apprehended by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team.
It was gathered that some gunmen kidnapped Gift, the wife of an Ogoni human rights activist, Gani Topba, on August 25, 2020 at the entrance of an estate where she lives and took her to their den in the Khana area of the state.
They reportedly demanded 100 million naira ransom initially but later reduced it to 500,000, naira, which was paid by the family before she was released.
IRT detectives investigating the incident were said to have traced a mobile phone the gang used for negotiating the ransom to an unnamed man who assisted them in arresting Michael and Barisua.
It was gathered that in the course of interrogation, the duo mentioned Bright as the mastermind and he was also picked up.
In an interview with journalists, Bright denied orchestrating Gift’s abduction but confessed to have received 100,000 naira from the ransom.
He said he told his friends (Michael and Barisua) how his boss of eight years allegedly sacked him unjustly and they promised to help deal with him.
Bright claimed that he collected the money because he was scared his friends might kill him if he failed to cooperate with them.
Michael, 37, a father of two, said he was introduced to kidnapping by a friend at large, identified simply as Mark, who in turn linked him up with Barisua, to form a four-man gang.
Barisua, a graduate of Electrical Engineering, said he went into kidnapping after losing his job at an oil company in Port Harcourt, but insisted that he did not participate in Gift’s abduction.
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