Gunmen kidnaps Alison-Madueke’s brother

Barely five months after the younger sister of Nigeria’s petroleum minister, Diezani Alison-Madueke, was kidnapped in Port Harcourt, gunmen have abducted the minister’s brother.

Joseph Agama, who is Mrs. Alison-Madueke’s younger brother, was kidnapped in the early hours of Thursday in Yenagoa, the Bayelsa State capital, police said.

The Bayelsa State police spokesperson, Asinim Butswat, who confirmed the development, said that the command received news of the incident shortly after it occurred and had already moved to rescue him.

Mr. Butswat said the incident occurred at about 12.30 a.m. on Thursday at Yenaka community, a coastal settlement in Yenagoa Local Government Area.

Community sources told PREMIUM TIMES that the armed gunmen arrived in a speedboat at the community waterfront, less than a kilometre from Bayelsa Police Headquarters.

They later seized their victim and took him to an unknown destination, the source said.

The kidnappers had yet to establish contact with the family, the source added.

The minister’s sister, Osiyo Agama, was kidnapped in October 2014, and was later rescued by a combined team of Joint Task Force and Department of State Security Services.