Jonathan’s adopted father: Soldiers, policemen take over Otuoke

    
Three days after the kidnapping of Inengite Nitabai, President Goodluck Jonathan’s adopted father, Otuoke, the President’s country home, has literally been turned into a military zone.

It was learnt that there had been massive deployment of crack team of soldiers and riot policemen in the community from Abuja.

On Wednesday, security forces were said to have taken over every part of the community and its sister communities, combing the creeks frantically to fish out the abductors.

An eyewitness, who craved anonymity, said residents were intimidated by the large troops, saying it was “like medicine after death.”

The eyewitness said, “It is high time the relevant authorities did what was needed to check kidnapping and other vicious crimes in the area. For instance, in Otuoke, for more than seven months now, there is no electricity supply in the area.

“From 7pm, every household resorts to generators. The cacophony of noise arising from those generators can be deafening. Probably if the whole area was quiet, the gunmen could not have successfully carried out their dastardly act without being noticed.

“Apart from the issue of electricity, unemployment is another issue of serious concern. In a situation where some people live in opulence and others live from hand to mouth, you can appreciate the consequences.”

As of Wednesday, the family of the victims were still apprehensive about the abduction of the 70-year-old compound chief of the Jonathan’s family.

Their fear was born out of the fact that more than 72 hours after the abduction, the kidnappers had yet to call any member of the family.