Gunmen Abduct Christ Embassy Pastor, Others

Gunmen have abducted 12 persons, including a
pastor of Christ Embassy, Lawrence Ohimare, in
Bayelsa State.
The abductors were said to have hijacked a
passenger speedboat carrying Ohimare, the
pastor of the church’s branch in the Brass area
of the state, and 11 others, heading for Yenagoa,
the state capital.
The commercial speedboat was said to have
taken off from Twon-Brass, en-route the Nembe
waterways to Yenagoa about 7am on Monday.
It was learnt that the speedboat was waylaid by
the gunmen immediately after the Obama Rice
Farm in Nembe and diverted to the Okoroma
creek.
A member of the church, Pastor Eriye Tumeni,
said information available to him was that the
boat took off around 7am from the Twon-Brass
jetty, but was hijacked by the gunmen. He said the 12 passengers on board the
speedboat were taken to an unknown destination
through Okoroma creeks.
He added that contact with Ohimare had since
been cut off since the incident.
He said, “As I am speaking with you, we have yet
to hear from the abductors or from the pastor
(Ohimare). The wife of the pastor is completely
devastated and had to be attended to.
“Since we received the news, I have
called the Divisional Police Officer
in Nembe, the Bayelsa
Commissioner of Police, the JTF
Commander and all other relevant
security agencies in the state to
help us in securing the release of
the pastor and the other 11
passengers on board.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations
Officer, Bayelsa State Command, Asinim Bustwat,
confirmed the abduction.
Butswat, however, said the command had not
been fully briefed on the incident.