There was pandemonium Wednesday at the formal inauguration of the executive of the Delta Online Publishers Forum, (DOPF) following the invasion of the venue of the event by thugs suspected to be loyal to the senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, to kidnap an online journalist, Austin Oyibode.
There was pandemonium Wednesday at the formal inauguration of the executive of the Delta Online Publishers Forum, (DOPF) following the invasion of the venue of the event by thugs suspected to be loyal to the senator representing Delta North Senatorial District, Senator Peter Nwaoboshi, to kidnap an online journalist, Austin Oyibode.
The armed thugs who arrived at Chad-ef Hotel, Asaba, venue of the event in an official black Toyota Corolla with registration number, AKU-13 LG belonging to the Chairman of the Oshimili North Local Government of the state, Louis Ndukwe who led the thugs and drove in an unmarked black official Camry, 2017 modern.
The council chairman who is a loyalist to Mr. Nwaoboshi had before his arrival sent some recruited thugs to the venue of the event to track down the journalist, and on arrival with the Nwaoboshi's thugs he sent them straight into the hall where the inauguration was taking place with an instruction to gun down the journalist should he make any attempt to escape.
Mr. Oyibode had reported in Emerald, an online news portal, that hoodlums suspected to be constituents of Nwaoboshi he refused to empower after working for him allegedly burgled the senator's residence in Asaba and carted away some hard currency and jewelry belonging to his wife.
The intervention of other journalists and some human rights lawyers in the event aborted the kidnap attempt of Mr. Oyibode.
Irked by the development, moderator of the event and human rights lawyer, Maxwell Omens Ogedegbe and Malachy Ugwummadu, a human rights lawyer and President, Committee for the Defence of Human Rights, (CDHR) and keynote speaker at the event, condemned in strong terms the invasion and attempted kidnap of the journalist by Nwaoboshi's thugs.
It would be recalled that some hoodlums suspected to be angry used and dumped constituents who have not been empowered by Nwaoboshi, on Monday burgled the senator's residence in Asaba and carted away his dollars and jewelries belonging to his wife valued millions of naira.
SaharaReporters reliably learned that the bandits also stole laptops and other expensive clothes and items belonging to the wife of the senator in an operation which lasted an hour while the police and other security personnel on guard at the senator’s house along Olarewanju Close, near Interbua, Asaba, were nowhere to be found.
As at the time of filing in this report, SaharaReporters learned that the Delta State Police Command has the arrested three police officers and a driver attached to the senator in connection with the alleged crime. All effort to reach the state Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Andrew Aniamaka, for confirmation proved abortive, but a source in his office confirmed the story saying immediately the incident was reported, the GRA Police Division was directed to over the case and investigation has commenced.
