Gunmen abduct Edo dep gov's CPS •Demand N20m ransom

by Uchechukwu Olisah, Benin City

CHIEF Press Secretary (CPS) to the deputy governor of Edo State, Kelly Odaro, was reportedly kidnapped, on Saturday evening, by unknown gunmen in Benin City, the state capital. Odaro was said to have been kidnapped on his way home from the secretariat of the Edo State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ) in the Government Reservation Area (GRA) in the Benin metropolis.

His wife said he left the NUJ Press Centre at about 6:30p.m to his house on Ikpoba Hill area of Benin City on the outskirts, only for him to be suddenly accosted by two men on a motorcycle. “Normally, when he is closer home he will call me so that we can come from upstairs to open the gate.“But, I was only surprised when people in our street came to call me that my husband has been kidnapped very close to our house by unknown gunmen.

“The doors of his car were opened and the ignition key was still there. The helmets the bike men used were by the car. My husband’s shoe was equally on the ground there but they went away with his phone.”It was gathered that from that Saturday evening when he was abducted, nothing was heard about Mr Odaro until around 6:00a.m when the kidnappers asked him to call his wife and place a demand of N20 million for his release.

When contacted, the public relations officer of the state police command, Anthony Airhuoyo, said the police were aware of the development and had since swung into action.Before his appointment as the CPS to Dr Pius Odubu, the Edo State deputy governor, Odaro was a lecturer at the Department of Mass Communication, Auchi Polytechnic, Auchi.