Gunmen kidnap APC senator

Senator Nelson Efiong, a lawmaker representing Akwa Ibom South otherwise called Eket Senatorial District in the 8th National Assembly has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen.

Senator Efiong, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was kidnapped on Sunday evening at his newly opened highbrow club along Oron Road, Uyo.

The incident occurred at about 9:00 pm on Sunday.

According to the report, the armed men stormed, at his Senator’s club at Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo, the sit-out with a Toyota Camry car and started shooting sporadically at random, sending the customers and other guests to scamper for safety before they made it straight to the former Senator.

Efiong was reportedly whisked away by the hoodlums in a Toyota Camry car to an unknown destination, leaving his Prado SUV behind at the club.

This is the second time that Mr Efiong has been kidnapped having earlier been kidnapped in 2009, two years after leaving the seat as the third speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly in 2007 in the current democratic dispensation.

His former aide who craved anonymity confirmed to newsmen that Efiong had to cough out the sum of N21 million as ransom before he was released by his abductors.

His latest kidnap problem said to have been carried out by three armed hoodlums was said to have led to several persons sustaining injuries either from stray bullets fired by the kidnappers or from stampede from the panick the hoodlums had caused in the process of whisking him away.

One Ekwere, (other names withheld) was said to have been one of those hit by a stray bullet in the process as he was said to have screamed on his social media pages: “I have just been shot; I have been shot along Oron Road” while urging security agencies to rescue the situation.

Efiong, the first senator to defect from PDP to APC in Akwa Ibom in 2018 to pave way for Sen Godswill Akpabio to also defect, appears to have always been in love with opening clubs after leaving office.

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He had also opened the Millionaires’ Club at Ewet Housing Estate, Uyo, as well as Tabasco Transport Company just before completing his tenure as the speaker of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly. Those two outfits had since packed up.

A source said; “The incident occurred at about 9:00pm on Sunday night. The armed men stormed the sit-out with a Toyota Camry car and started shooting sporadically at random, sending the customers and other guests to scamper for safety before they made straight to the former Senator.”

Efiong was reportedly whisked away by the hoodlums in a Toyota Camry car to an unknown destination, possibly for ransom negotiation leaving his Prado SUV behind at the club.

The Commissioner of Police (CP), Mr. Amiengheme Andrew, assured that “there will be a statement on the matter”.

But the state chapter of the All Progressives Congress, speaking through their publicity secretary, Mr Nkereuwem Enyongekere, said the party was still awaiting confirmation of the incident by the police.

“It did not happen in Oron. It happened in Uyo. .So we are waiting for formation by the police.”  The APC state spokesman said.

Efiong is from Oron, and was equally stopped from returning to the Senate by another Oron politician and former minister for lands, Sen Akon Eyakenyi, of the PDP

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