How Ngozi Okonjo Iweala's mother was Kidnapped

The kidnap of Professor Kamene Okonjo from her palace was executed by a group of daredevil kidnappers who disguised as palace guards while her husband was traveling in Abuja.

A man in police custody who allegedly led the kidnappers to Mrs. Okonjo's compound a few minutes before the incident took place was said to have informed the housemaid that he was in the palace to take the queen mother to somewhere in the town for a traditional event.

The 86 year old who is a retired proffesor of sociology at the University of Nigeria (UNN) Nsukka was taken hostage when she came outside her palace to offer some refreshments to some working in the palace compound,Other kidnappers numbering 10 were lurking around the palace

Eyewitness accounts said that as soon as the woman stepped out of the main building, heading towards the gate, the kidnappers moved in from the gate, and pushed her into a waiting Volkswagen Golf car.

In a telephone chat, one of the palace chiefs, who requested anonymity stated that the abductors were armed to teeth, and that had taken hostage the workers at the gate who were fixing interlocking tiles in the palace, ordering them to lie face down.

“Immediately they saw our king’s wife, the Queen Mother who was coming towards the gate with her maid to serve the workers soft drinks, she was seized and thrown into a waiting Golf car while another car was parked outside”.

Another eyewitness further said: “One of kidnappers, bracing all odds, went upstairs to collect the Queen Mother’s handbag. Another maid who sighted the kidnapper upstairs hid herself in the kitchen.”