Gunmen Abduct Bayelsa State Governor's Younger Sister

Gunmen have been reported to have abducted a 26-year-old younger sister of Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, Nancy Dickson, and her sales girl in Bayelsa State.

Nancy was reportedly abducted by four suspected gunmen. An incident which occurred around 3pm on Saturday at her shop on Okaka Road, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital.

The motive of the kidnappers has not been ascertained whether political or not. It was however gathered that the gunmen fired gunshots to scare away residents of the area before abducting their targets. An unnamed salesgirl in Nancy’s shop was also said to have been whisked away with her to an unknown destination. It was further gathered that the abductors had trailed their victim (Nancy) to her shop before seizing her and bundling her and the salesgirl into their ash-coloured Lexus Jeep.

When contacted, the authorities of the Nigeria Police in the state confirmed the abduction. The Police Public Relations Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Mr. Asinim Butswat, said the gunmen trailed their victim to her shop before they abducted her. Butswat said, “Nancy was abducted alongside her sales girl to an unknown destination.” The police spokesman said as soon as they got information on the abduction, the Command embarked on a stop-and-search/cordon operations in a bid to rescue the victims and apprehend the perpetrators.

Army Reduces Soldiers’ Death Sentence to 10-Year Imprisonment

The Nigeria Army has commuted the death sentence of 66 soldiers for the offence of mutiny in the ongoing military operation against the insurgency in the North-East to 10-year jail term.

Moreover, the soldiers were sentenced to death by two General Military Court-martials for mutiny and related offences last year. The 66 soldiers which were arraigned alongside others for charges including “criminal conspiracy, conspiracy to commit mutiny, mutiny, attempt to commit an offence (murder), disobedience to particular orders, insubordinate behaviour and false accusation, amongst others.”

Five of the soldiers were however put on trial for the alleged offences were discharged and acquitted of the charges while a soldier got 28 days’ imprisonment with hard labour. It was said in a statement by the Acting Director, Army Public Relations, Col. Sani Usman, on Saturday the sentences were commuted following a directive by the Chief of Army Staff, Lt. Gen. Tukur Buratai, to review the verdicts.

Col. Usman said the directive was carried out and recommendations made to Buratai after each of the cases was examined on its merits before the decision was taken. He added that the panel was still looking into the cases of other soldiers the outcome of which would be made known to the public on completion of the exercise.