Unknown gunmen Thursday kidnapped the mother of a local council chairman in Rivers state in Nigeria’s restive Niger Delta oil region, in the latest of a series of kidnappings in the region in recent times, the police said. Rivers police spokesperson Rita Abbey said the mother of Bari Mpigi, chair of the Tai municipal council, was abducted in the early hours of the day, but could not give further details. On 9 Dec., the manager of a fuel station in the state capital of Port Harcourt, identified simply as Mrs Okonkwo, was kidnapped, just like the mother of a Senator was abducted last week. None of the abducted persons has been freed. In most cases, kidnapped persons are usually released unharmed after the payment of ransom, which are however rarely publicly admitted.
