Chidiebere Onyia, a reporter with the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), has been taken hostage by gunmen in Port Harcourt.
Nnamdi Omoni, the police spokesman of the Rivers State Police Command confirmed the incident on Wednesday. He said the reporter was abducted by gunmen at about 6.30 p.m. on Tuesday around the Woji area in Port Harcourt.
Onyia was reportedly returning home from work in the company of some of her colleagues in her car when the kidnappers ambushed her vehicle, fired gunshots into the air, forced her out, and then drove her away in their vehicle.
One of her colleagues who had alighted from the vehicle prior to the incident stated,
“I was in the vehicle before the incident. Onyia drove me to my destination and continued to drop others. I was shocked to hear that gunmen ‘double-crossed’ her and took her away whilst abandoning the vehicle and other occupants.”
“She is a mother of three young children, we are begging her abductors to release her unconditionally.”
The journalists’ union in Rivers State also released a statement concerning the reporter’s kidnapping describing it as “inhuman and heinous”.
“It is worrisome and regrettable that journalists are now victims of abduction and held for whatever reason.
A fundamental prerequisite for free media is that journalists should be allowed to move freely in their efforts to serve the public,”
The Nigeria Union of Journalists chapter in the state said in a statement signed by its chairman and secretary, Stanley Job and Ike Wigodo respectively.
“What we are witnessing in the country today gives us serious concern, as less than two weeks ago, a reporter with The Punch, Okechukwu Nnodim, was abducted in Abuja, only to be released a few days ago.
Also recently, the Business Manager of Silverbird, Segun Owolabi, escaped an assassination attempt in Port Harcourt after the closing of work. And now, another journalist, Onyia, was kidnapped in Port Harcourt on Tuesday. This is unacceptable,”
Nnamdi Omoni stated the command had deployed personnel to locate and rescue Onyia from the abductors.
He further noted that the Commissioner of Police in the state, AIG Joseph Mukan, had ordered the command’s tactical units to ensure the victim’s safe release.
