Abductors Demand N200million Ransom For Ex-Senator, Effiong

Gunmen, who kidnapped former lawmaker, Senator Nelson Effiong, have asked the family of the victim to pay the sum of N200million to secure his release from captivity.

Effiong, who represented Eket Senatorial District in Akwa Ibom State, was kidnapped last Monday by three armed hoodlums at his lounge, a popular sit-out along Oron Road in Uyo.

The hoodlums reportedly stormed the venue at about 9pm on Sunday night and opened fire on customers in the lounge.

The senator was taken away while several patrons at the bar were injured during the attack.

He has since remained in the kidnappers’ den.

In a recent development, Vanguard reports that a source close to the family said: “they have reached the family and are demanding for 200 million naira. And the question is, where is the family going to get that kind of money with the way things are in the state? We pray for him to regain his freedom.”

Effiong represented Akwa Ibom South (Eket) Senatorial District in the National Assembly between 2011 and 2015.

It was not clear whether his saga has any political undertone in view of the internal squabble rocking his party, All Progressives Congress in the oil-rich state.

It was gathered that several bullets have successfully been extracted from one of the victims who was rushed to an undisclosed hospital.