Communication and Orientation Commissioner, Chris Nehikhare, in a statement in Benin at the weekend, said that the government had stepped up surveillance and was collaborating with security agencies for the safe release of the kidnapped victim.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Aziegbemi was kidnapped close to his GRA residence on Friday night while returning from a meeting with Governor Godwin Obaseki at the Government House.
“We have also increased surveillance and beefed-up security measures across the state to ensure that these criminal activities are quelled and culprits are brought to justice.
“We encourage residents to go about their lawful businesses without fear and urge them to call the state emergency numbers 112 or 739 to report all suspicious persons or activities within their environs,” he said.
Nehikhare reassured the public of the government’s commitment to protecting the lives and property of Edo residents.
He said the government would spare no resource in ensuring that the perpetrators of the dastardly act were apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.
Similarly, the Edo State Police Command had said that its operatives were collaborating with the local security network to rescue the victim unhurt.
The command, in a statement by its Public Relations Officer, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said its Commissioner, Funsho Adegboye, received the report of the incident “with shock”.
“The commissioner has given a marching order to the tactical team leaders to conduct a rescue operation in collaboration with local vigilance groups and hunters,” he said.
The command’s spokesman quoted the commissioner as soliciting the cooperation of Edo citizens, urging them to give information that could lead to the arrest of the perpetrators and the rescue of the victim.
The PDP also expressed ‘serious concerns’ over Aziegbemi’s abduction, which it said, ‘’further points to the alarming failure of the All Progressives Congress (APC)-controlled Federal Government in its primary duty to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians as provided for under Section 14 (2)(b) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended).”
The statement said that the party is distressed by the alarming spate of abductions of helpless Nigerians in various parts of the country, particularly the recent kidnap of about 286 school children in Kaduna State and others in Sokoto State, who are still being held in horrifying and traumatising conditions in their abductor’s den.
It added: “It is heartrending that the APC administration continues to give false assurances while Nigerians are left at the mercy of kidnappers, bandits, terrorists, and marauders without corresponding concrete effort to check the ugly occurrences.
“Our party calls on the Federal Government to end its laid-back attitude to security by immediately rejigging our national security architecture, especially in the areas of intelligence gathering, security command and control coordination in a manner that not only proactively ensures the safety of citizens, but also guarantees rapid response and effective rescue operations.”
In its statement, state acting chairman, Jarret Tenabe, the APC attributed the development to the lack of strong security architecture in the state.
“The kidnap is a wake-up call on the Governor Obaseki-led administration. It shows that all is not well in terms of securing the state, which is the primary responsibility of the government.
“The APC, Edo State Chapter, uses this medium to demand the immediate and unconditional release of the PDP chairman,” the statement read.
The party, however, called on state security agencies to leave no stone unturned in the quest to ensure his release unhurt.
In another development, the national leadership of the PDP has said that the abduction of the party’s Edo State chairman, Aziegbemi highlights the failure of the APC administration to ensure the security and welfare of Nigerians.
The main opposition party made the assertion in a statement issued at the weekend by the party’s National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, where it demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the PDP chairman.”
