Gunmen kidnap parents of Maxwell Oko, ex-Commissioner for Energy, in Bayelsa State

Mr MAXWELL OKO, former Commissioner for Energy, Bayelsa State

On 2 June, gunmen kidnapped Pa Erasmus Oko, aged 79, along with his wife, Mrs. Idemokumo Oko in her mid-50s, both parents of Mr. Maxwell Oko, the immediate past Commissioner for Energy in Bayelsa State.

The incident occurred in Otuasega, a rural community in Ogbia Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, barely four hours after the dissolution of the state executive council, which also relieved Mr Maxwell Oko of the energy portfolio. 

The elderly couple was reportedly abducted by a gang of four gunmen. News agency sources said the four men had driven into the community in an unregistered, red-coloured Audi 80 salon car late in the evening, and drove around for a while, apparently firming their plans. At about 9pm, they first grabbed the commissioner’s aunt but let her off on realising she was not one of their targets. They then stormed Pa Oko’s house and seized the old man and his wife, just as she was serving him his dinner.

News agency reports further said the gunmen dragged their two captives to their waiting car and sped off to neighbouring Okarki in Rivers State, where two other members of the gang had already stationed a speedboat and were standing-by at the waterfront. The gang then transferred their captives to the waiting boat and went off to an unknown destination.

The motive for the kidnap is not yet known as the gunmen have not yet contacted the Oko family. Pa Oko, a trader, is said to be suffering from arthritis due to old age.

The Police Public Relations Officer in Bayelsa State, Mr. Eguavoen Emokpae, an Assistant Superintendent of Police, confirmed the incident to newsmen. He said the police was working hard to track down the kidnappers and free the captives.

Explosion at Timi Alaibe’s campaign office in Bayelsa State

TIMI ALAIBE, Labour Party Governorship Candidate, Bayelsa State

On 21 February, unknown persons dynamited the campaign office of Timi Alaibe, the Labour Party (LP) governorship candidate in Bayelsa State, destroying a section of the building. The office is located at Ogbia town of Ogbia Local Government Area of the state.

According to the Tmi Alaibe campaign organisation, the attackers who struck around 4am, came from behind the building and hauled explosive devices suspected to be dynamites at the campaign office, shattering its side widows and ceiling. A nearby structure built with corrugated iron sheets was also badly damaged. No life was lost. The attack, notwithstanding, the commissioning of the campaign office, which was slated to signal the official flag-off of Alaibe’s campaign that morning, still went ahead as scheduled.

The incident is the third instance of violence at the residence or office of the LP candidate in the past few months. In the first incident at his country home in Opokuma on 11 November 2010, a policeman on guard duty was killed; a second incident on 7 January 2011 resulted in the deaths of about 3 of his supporters, who had thronged his Opokuma residence to welcome him back home from Abuja; but some sources say that incident was more like a clash between rival factions of his supporters.

However, the Bayelsa State government has described the most recent incident as another orchestration by Alaibe’s party to attract media attention. In a statement, the state Commissioner for Information, Orientation and Strategy, Mr Nathan Egba, said: “The dawn blast was part of the design to embarrass the President, who incidentally is from the area”.

Egba said that knowing that the mere opening of a campaign office may not be enough to attract their desired media attention, the “Labour Party has once again introduced their favourite attention-grabbing technique, that is, detonation of explosives around them. In their characteristic way, they ensure it happens close by, but not close enough to cause damage to them or any of their valuables”.   

The commissioner seized the opportunity to call on the people of the state to unite against violence. “Let us imbibe democratic norms and learn to be sportsmanly in our approach to politics, so as to avoid ridiculing our state before the entire nation,” he urged.