Kidnappers say N10m offer is a big "insult"

idnappers, who on Monday afternoon in Igoli, Ogoja, northern Cross River State, abducted Mrs Victotria Ickeke Idiege Omang, second wife of a Cross River State House of Assembly member, have turned down an offer of N10 million, describing the sum as “an insult”.

A source close to the lawmaker, who represents Bekwara Constituency in the Cross River State House of Assembly, told  P.M. NEWS today that the kidnappers are insisting on collecting the N50 million ransom they earlier demanded.

The source said the legislator has been keeping close touch with the kidnappers “and from the voices in the background which sound like Tiv, we can decipher that the woman is likely held in Benue State which shares a boundary with Gakem, the Cross River village where Idiege comes from.”

Willy Akobi, the personal assistant (domestic) to Hon Idiege disclosed to P.M. NEWS that a meeting of the entire Gakem village was held yesterday to discuss the turn of events in the village.

“And so many things were discussed which I cannot tell you on phone but I can reliably tell you that we are in contact with them (kidnappers), ” he said .

Hon Idiege, who was attacked by robbers early this year soon after the death of his opponent in the 2007 House of Assembly election for the Bekwara Constituency, is considered a no nonsense man.

He is the chairman of the Cross River State House of Assembly Committee on Public Accounts.

He is said to be a tough nut for local government chairmen in the state in his relentless pursuit of accountability.

“He was a council chairman before and he knows the antics of council officials and he is always on their neck. Most of them do not like him,” a source in the House of  Assembly declared.

The police are still keeping vigil in his country home in Gakem, Bekwara, where Victoria was residing before she was abducted.