Yet-to-be-identified gunmen who attacked the ex-Governor Samuel Ortom’s Chief of Staff, Terwase Orbunde, Friday evening and abducted his wife and housemaid have opened negotiations with the family, demanding N100 million ransom for their release.
Orbunde, who is currently receiving treatment in an undisclosed hospital in Makurdi for injuries he sustained from a gunshot, told a close family member that the abductors spoke to him at about 8:30 am on Saturday themselves and through the captives.
According to him, “his wife and house help were very calm when they spoke with him.”
He revealed that during the attack, which took place at about 6pm, the gunmen were speaking Fulani among themselves and communicating with him in Hausa, saying they would contact him on the phone.
Orbunde said they told him that he should be prepared to send money to them, vowing that if he failed to do that, they would kill his wife and maid.
It could be recalled that gunmen attacked Orbunde on Friday, April 12, 2024, when he went to supervise work on his farm between Genocide Cemetery and Angus Memorial College, along Mobile Barracks-Welfare Quarters Road in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.
The former Chief of Staff was shot on the forearm while his wife, Kashimana Orbunde, and maid, Patience Ogute, were abducted.
