Some gunmen on Sunday kidnapped a female lawyer, identified as Paulette Ajayi, at Rumuokurusi, in the Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of Rivers State.
Ajayi was reportedly trailed to her residence by the hoodlums, who wore military uniform.
They were said to have stopped her before she could enter her compound on Sunday.
A former Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission, Chidi Odinkalu, in a tweet, said Ajayi’s mother, a lawyer since 1990, witnessed the abduction of her daughter.
Odinkalu further said the woman pleaded with the gunmen to spare her daughter, but that the assailants punched her on the face, shot into the air and dragged the young lawyer out of the car she had locked herself in before taking her away.
The Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, Port Harcourt branch, Prince Nyekwere, confirmed the incident to our correspondent on the telephone on Monday.
Nyekwere said the NBA President, Olumide Akpata, had set up a task force within the association to liaise with security agencies to ensure her quick release.
He said, “We have reported the matter to the police and the NBA president has set up a task force of which I am a member, to ensure that she is released,” he stated.
Also, the NBA Publicity Secretary, Dr Rapulu Nduka, said the abduction was done by “at least four men dressed in combat fatigues and dark T-shirts.”
Nduka, in a statement on Monday, titled, ‘NBA sets up task force for the release of Paulette Bisola Ajayi,’ confirmed that a seven-man task force had been set up over the incident.
“The members of the task force are NBA First Vice-President, John Aikpokpo-Martins; NBA Welfare Secretary, Kunle Edun; Port Harcourt NBA Chairman, Prince Nyekwere; Victor Frank-Briggs; Irene Pepple; Anthonia Osademe; and Ngozi Ajayi. The NBA is in contact with the Rivers State Governor, Attorney-General of Rivers, and Rivers State Police Headquarters, on this issue.”
When contacted, a spokesman for the state police command, Nnamdi Omoni, confirmed the incident, but said Bisola’s family had yet to make an official report to the police.
“I can confirm the incident although the family has yet to make any official report to the Divisional Police Officer where the incident took place. But we have heard it and have set machineries in motion to ensure her timely rescue,” he said.