Kidnappers of Port Harcourt based journalist, Priestba Anthony Nwokocha, have contacted her family, demanding for N150 million ransom to effect her release.
Nwokocha is the Director of News at the Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation (RSBC), owners of Radio Rivers 99.1FM.
The abductee’s husband, Anthony Wokocha disclosed this when members of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) resident in Rivers State visited the family to empathize with them on the unfortunate incident.
He recounted that his wife was on her way back from work on the evening of Friday, July 21, 2023 when she was kidnapped by yet-to-be-identified gunmen.
According to him, the incident happened at about 8pm when her vehicle broke down and they were trying to fix it around the Golf Estate Highway, Trans Amadi, Port Harcourt.
Nwokocha said “when her vehicle broke down, she contacted a mechanic but his mobile line did not go through; so, she decided to call me to inform me about the development”.
“I rushed down to the scene of the incident and called a mechanic who came without his tools and left shortly.”
“While we were contemplating on what to do, a white Toyota Corolla car parked in front of us; the occupants, numbering four heavily armed men, came down and asked us what happened.”
“We told them our vehicle had broken down. Next thing, one of the men carrying an AK-47 rifle suddenly hit me with the gun while the others took my wife away.”
The beleaguered Nwokocha further said that the kidnappers contacted him on Saturday, July 22, 2023, and asked him to arrange a N150 million ransom if he wanted his wife to regain her freedom.
When asked if he had lodged a complaint at the police station, he answered in the affirmative, saying the matter is being handled by the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Nigerian Police Force on the orders of the State Police Commissioner.
Concerned residents of the area have lamented that the Golf Estate Highway is a very lonely area and that the absence of street lights in the night have made the area susceptible for kidnappers to operate unchallenged.
Knowledgeable sources describe Priestba Nwokocha as “an easy going woman”.
She is a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) and financial member of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Rivers State Council.
Until her redeployment to the Rivers State Broadcasting Corporation (RSBC) during the last administration where she rose to the position of Director of News, Mrs. Nwokocha worked in various capacities in the News Department at the Rivers State Television Station (RSTV).
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