Unknown gunmen have kidnapped a 72-year-old retired principal, Chief Sunday Festus, at his residence in Bomo clan of Southern Ijaw Local Government Area of Bayelsa State.

Mr. Leighe Festus, son of the abducted septuagenarian, said in Yenagoa on Tuesday that his father was diabetic and critically ill as at the time he was kidnapped.

He said the incident occurred at about 3:26 a.m. on Monday, when a four-man

gang of kidnappers went straight to the victim’s residence, broke the protectors and forced him out of his room into a waiting double 75 horsepower speedboat.

Festus said that the kidnappers dragged his father on the ground to the waterside, after shooting sporadically into the air to scare away those who might have wished to intervene.

He said that having succeeded in abducting their victim, they headed towards Opuama community, adding that at Oyeregbene they attempted to steal an engine boat, and later engaged a surveillance patrol gun boat while escaping with their victim in a bid to pave their way from the security patrol on the waterways.

When contacted, the Bayelsa Police Public Relation Officer, DSP Asinim Butswat, said he was on leave.

•Photo shows gunmen.

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