Gunmen abduct Rivers hotelier’s wife

THE wife of an owner of popular Bougainville Hotel, located on Sanni Abacha Road in Port Harcourt, has been kidnapped by a group of gunmen at her residence.

The victim, Mrs. Grace Dickson, was said to have been abducted by her assailants at about 11pm on Sunday while she was returning to her house in the Government Reserved Area in Port Harcourt.

A source said on Monday that the woman, who is married to a Briton, was accosted by her assailants while trying to drive into the compound.

It was learnt that the suspected kidnappers, who were armed, ordered Mrs. Dickson to open the door of the vehicle before they could gain entrance.

The perplexed private security man, who noticed what happened, immediately closed the gate while the gunmen took Mrs. Dickson away in her car to an unknown destination.

“She was kidnapped as soon as she drove to her gate. While waiting for the gateman to open the gate for her, about four men shouted at her to open the doors of the vehicle (brand not ascertained),” the source said.

Confirming the incident, the State Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Angela Agabe, explained that her abductors had ambushed their target at the gate to her residence on Sunday night.

Agabe explained that Mrs. Dickson was driving alone when she was abducted and taken away to an unknown destination in her vehicle.

She added that the security man failed to inform the kidnapped woman’s husband, who came in some minutes later that his wife had been kidnapped until the following morning.

“It is true that she (Mrs. Dickson) was abducted. She left the hotel and was driving home alone around 11pm. The person manning the gate, opened it for her to enter, but she was taken away in her car by the kidnappers,” the PPRO noted.