Banner Online News

31ST JAN 2024

PRESS RELEASE

PDP GROUP HAILS SUCCESSFUL RESCUE OF LAGOS CHAIRMAN AIVOJI FROM KIDNAPPERS, SAYS TINUBU GOVT SHOULD REFUND RANSOMS  FOR FAILING TO PROTECT NIGERIANS

The National Mandate Group (NMG), an Atiku Abubakar support organisation for the 2023 presidential election, has congratulated the Lagos State Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) freed on Monday from the kidnappers’ den after his abduction on Thursday along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

The group demanded that for failing to provide security, the Federal Government must work out a refund and a compensation package for kidnapped victims who paid a ransom to regain their freedom throughout the country.

Lagos State Chairman of NMG, Hon. Wahab Sadiq (a.k.a. Deske) said it took the grace of God for Philip Aivoji to have survived the ordeal of being abducted and subjected to all sorts of psychological torture and physical trauma at the hands of the criminals.

“Our prayer is that God that has given Hon. Aivoji this great deliverance will continue to protect him,” Sadiq said. “Additionally, we wish to express unmitigated gratitude to all individuals, groups and institutions that rallied round to guarantee the safe return of our beloved PDP Chairman.”

However, NMG lambasted President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for abandoning his duty post and taking a vacation at this period of national calamity.

The group recalled that Tinubu left the country for “private visit” overseas soon after the killing of over 50 unarmed Nigerians by terrorists in Plateau and Benue states.

NMG said: “Who does that? Who sees his home burning and will decide to go sightseeing? It is the height of insensitivity and apathy. It shows that the government of President Tinubu has lost touch with the reality of life in this jungle that Nigeria is fast becoming under nine years of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

“Time has come for the Federal Government to begin to feel the pain of kidnappings and abductions Nigerians daily suffer. NMG demands that every time someone is kidnapped and ransomed, the government must bear the cost through a well-structured compensation and refund policy.

“A government that shows lack of capacity to provide security and apprehend insurgency, terrorism and banditry has no reason to continue in office.”

Lamenting that lives were lost and injuries sustained during the rescue operation by police and security agencies, NMG expressed condolences with the bereaved families.

“We pray that God should grant sweet repose to the souls that died, console their families and heal all those who suffered various degrees of injuries and psychological traumas,” Sadiq said.

Aivoji, Chairman of the Lagos State chapter of PDP, was abducted on Thursday by gunmen along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway and released in the early hours of Monday.

Aivoji and others were taken by abductors at the Ogere area of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Thursday while returning from their party’s Stakeholders’ Zonal Caucus meeting convened at Ibadan by Oyo State Governor, Seyi Makinde.

The abductors initially contacted his family and demanded a N200 million ransom.

HON. WAHAB SADIQ,
LAGOS STATE CHAIRMAN, NATIONAL MANDATE GROUP (NMG)