Bayelsa State Deputy Governor, Hon Peremobowei Ebebi, has vowed not to give in to blackmail by kidnappers of his father, Chief Simon Ebebi by paying ransom for his release.

This is even as security operatives have begun a serious manhunt for the kidnappers after the breakdown of negotiation between them and the family members.

Sources close to Ebebi said he vowed not to give in to demands of the kidnappers as they were only out to blackmail him by abducting his dad who is also the paramount ruler of the community.

The source explained that Ebebi, while talking to members of the House of Assembly who paid him a solidarity visit in Government House, exuded so much confidence that his father would not come to any harm because the kidnap was just a ploy to get money from him by the desperate youths.

Investigations by Daily Sun that the masterminds of the act appeared to be well known people to the Ebebi family and this has provided the lead for security operatives in their search for the septuagenarian monarch.

The security operatives, comprising of the State Security Services (SSS), the Police and the Joint Military Task Force (JTF), which had been on the trail of the kidnappers, have traced them to Ughelli and Warri in Delta State.
From checks, the kidnappers are in touch with those supplying them information as they keep changing locations before security operatives get to them.

A security source told Daily Sun that it is a matter of days before the kidnappers would be nabbed.
The source said negotiation has been ruled out as the family is not interested in paying any ransom.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Bayelsa State Students (NUBSS) has condemned, in very strong terms, the abduction of Chief Ebebi.

In a statement signed by its national president, Comrade Tare Porri and national secretary- general, NUBSS said the kidnap of the deputy governor’s father was “orchestrated by detractors of the state government.”

The group further pointed out that the kidnap plot was hatched by “nefarious criminals and hungry men from a neigbouring state.”
It lauded the efforts of the James Jephtah peace committee to secure his release and expressed optimism that the monarch would soon regain his freedom.