BREAKING: Abducted Three Warri Lawyers, Driver Regain Freedom

BIGPENNGR understands the lawyers and the driver were released by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers, who seized them on their way to court on Wednesday.

It was gathered that the victims were released at about 1 :05am on Saturday morning near Ogbemudia farm along the same route where they were seized by their captors.

BIGPENNGR had reported that the three lawyers of the NBA Warri branch namely; Fred Aburu,Esq., Isreal Unurierume, Esq., Eda Gbejule, Esq., and Kome Esike, the driver of the vehicle they boarded were on Wednesday abducted along Benin -Auchi road, on their way to court.

It was not clear whether any ransom was paid before the lawyers and the driver were let off the hook but sources said that the victims were abandoned on the Benin-Auchi road last night by the gunmen who hurriedly left the scene.

Warri NBA chairman, Chief Emmanuel Uti, who confirmed their release in a terse message to BIGPENNGR, said he would formally issue a press release on the incident.

He expressed thanks to God and everyone who made effort towards their release.

Uti, had in a statement on Friday, described the incident as ‘disturbing’, saying “the incident awakens the sad reality of what has bedeviled our society, which the Government has found difficult to contain, in order to reassure its citizens of their safety”.

He expressed concern that the security architecture in the country seems overwhelmed by the dastardly acts of kidnappers, urging security agencies to collaborate with Edo State Police Command to ensure release of the lawyers.

“This kidnap incident once again brings to fore the challenges associated with our profession that we are made to live with, in the discharge of our professional duties.

He said that the act of kidnapping; “calls for a revisit of the Branch resolution that, our Branch members should not appear for any accused charged with kidnapping”.

“While we await further information from the security agencies, we are enjoined to remember our colleagues in our prayers for their safe release”, Uti added.

In a related development, NBA, Benin branch, in a similar statement, had condemned the incessant and unending kidnap of lawyers and citizens plying Benin/Auchi Road by dare-devil kidnappers and called on the security operatives in the state to put an end to the ugly trend.

Describing the incident as “recurring decimal”, the Benin branch’s Publicity Secretary,  Ogaga Emoghwanre, Esq, said “if lawyers who spend most of their lives fighting for the oppressed can be kidnapped, does it not automatically mean that no one in this country is safe?

Saying the rising incidence of kidnapping in Edo State was “mind-boggling”, the NBA Benin Branch had called on the Edo State Police Command and other security agencies in the State, “to do everything within their constitutional powers and duty to ensure that the lawyers and driver are released within 48 hours, unharmed and unscathed”.