Kidnappers of the Enogie(king) of Ukhiri in Ikpobah-Okha Local Government Area of Edo State, Godwin Aigbe, have allegedly opened chats with his family and are said to request ransom in foreign currency before they will discharge him.
A relative affirmed the development however would not reveal the sum.
Recall that five heavily-armed men stormed enogie’s palace on Saturday evening shooting sporadically into the air, before abducting him from his living room to an unknown destination.
The kidnappers burnt their operational vehicle and got away in the ruler’s vehicle.
Affirming the capture, the Commissioner of Police in Edo State, Dan Mohammed, had said on Sunday that a few suspects had been captured and were helping the Police in their investigation.
The Commissioner clarified that the enogie had a running fight with a portion of his subjects, who he prior reported to the Police.
Mohammed said, “Those we arrested said it is not kidnapping; that they took him to make peace with others and are making contact with those that took him to release him.”
He further stated that some enogie’s subjects had earlier attempted to burn his palace. Mohammed said: “He reported to us, but if he had told us that he was going there, we would have given him security.”
It will be recalled that some aggrieved youths last week took up arms against the enogie and destroyed property in the palace.
Some of them were arrested and few days after women in the community also protested and alleged that the enogie was traumatising them with his style of administration.
However, enogie had said the issue he had with the aggrieved persons was their re-introduction of Community Development Associations, CDAs, which had been banned by the Oba of Benin and the state government, alleging that they wanted to forcefully sell community lands to individuals through the banned association.