Emma Amaize
WARRI- A new wave of insecurity has gripped residents of the oil city of Warri in Delta State  following the rising cases of kidnap and armed robbery. About 10 persons were said to have been kidnapped in the past six weeks.

Worried by the situation, the Nigeria Bar Association, NBA, Warri branch has raised alarm over the frightening dimension abduction; extortion and robbery have taken in Warri without serious challenge from the security agencies, especially the police and protection from the State Government.

Two days ago, the wife of a senior lawyer in Warri was kidnapped on her way to the church. The previous day, an oil company contractor from Edo state was abducted in Warri by gunmen, who carried him away in his car. The kidnappers called his wife on Sunday to demand for ransom.  Two weeks earlier, the daughter of a High Court judge in the state was also kidnapped and the son of a government official was also abducted. He was released after the father paid ransom to the kidnappers.  The NBA, in a statement jointly signed by the state chairman and secretary, Gweke Akudihor Esq. and Oghenero Okoro Esq respectively,  said, “The rate of kidnapping, robbery and extortion in the last six weeks has risen to an alarming and dangerous level that the citizenry now have live in a state of fear and unnecessary anxiety”.

The association claimed that within the past six weeks, the criminals struck with impunity at different part of Warri metropolis, including Bendel Estate, Airport  Road, Ginuwa Road, Ometan Road, Ekpan and Enerhen and had also on a daily basis, laid siege on Benin-Sapele expressway.

It noted that the kidnappers and bandits have not spared men, women and children in the wild escapades, while staggering sums of money in the region of millions of naira “is paid daily to the kidnappers to secure the release of family members and friends”.

The association said it disturbed that the retinue of security agencies in the state were acting as if they were not aware of the activities of the criminals and called on the state government to rise up to its duty of providing security for the citizens of the state.