Anger as Dickson’s sister suffers in kidnappers’ den 45 days after

There was anger in Bayelsa State, Saturday, as Nancy Keme Dickson, the abducted younger sister to the Governor of Bayelsa State, Mr. Seriake Dickson, remained in kidnappers’ den for about 45 days.

Most residents who spoke to our correspondent said it was unbelievable that a governor’s sister could spend such number of days in captivity.

While some of them said it was inexcusable for the governor to allow his sister to languish in the company of notorious criminals, others urged the abductors to set the lady free on compassionate grounds.

Nancy, 26, said to be the last child of the Dickson’s family, was abducted on December 19, 2015 by unidentified gunmen.

The student of the state-owned Niger Delta University (NDU), was kidnapped at her shop located in Okaka Road, Yenagoa, the state capital.

The gunmen who reportedly drove in an ash Lexus Jeep, trailed her to her shop and whisked her away to an unknown place at about 2:50pm.

Her shop is located in a building housing the office of the Bayelsa Volunteers, an army of youths working for the state government to assist security agencies in bursting crime.

Nancy was abducted after the December 5, 2015 governorship election and a few weeks to the January 9 supplementary poll, which Dickson won and became reelected for a second term.

Her travails appeared to have been forgotten until The Nation recently published a report reawakening public consciousness on the matter.

A top security source who spoke in confidence said security agencies in the state totally forgot the matter until they read the report.

He said the governor mentioned it during the state Security Council Meeting that was held on Monday.

“The report reawakened the consciousness of security commanders on the matter. At the last security council meeting, the governor mentioned the case of his sister.

“But he said he would not pay ransom to the kidnappers. He, however, did not give the security commander a marching order to secure the freedom of his sister,” he said.

It was, however, learnt that a first attempt through a negotiating team to set Nancy free was tragic as the kidnappers reportedly collected money from a member of the team, set his car ablaze and threatened to kill him.

The kidnappers were said to have held the negotiator hostage for about a week before releasing him.

A resident of Yenagoa who identified himself simply as Peter urged the governor to handle his sister’s case as an emergency.

“We know that the governor has always spoken against paying ransom, but when a matter gets to this level, the governor can play along, retrieve his sister first and then go after the kidnappers as the Chief Security Officer of the state.

“The health of Nancy should be paramount now because she must have been subjected to inhuman treatments because she is a young and attractive lady,” he said.

An aide to the governor on Social Media, Mr. John Idumange, appealed to the kidnappers to release Nancy unconditionally.

Idumange said: “Miss Nancy Dickson was kidnapped about seven weeks ago. We have made inexorable efforts to appeal to her kidnappers to release the girl unconditionally. As a student, this has already destroyed her academic career.

“Once more, we wish to express our deep concern about this kidnap saga. This is one kidnap too many. We do not know those who have done this evil deed, but God is watching. We passionately appeal to the kidnappers to release her unconditionally.

“She must have been traumatized to the point of overkill and enough of this inhumanity to her persons.”

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Butswat Asinim, said the police were doing their best to free the lady.