Military authorities said yesterday that soldiers had arrested 63 people in Delta State during raids aimed at finding the finance minister's 82-year-old mother, Prof Kanene Okonjo, who was kidnapped from her home on Sunday.
It is not yet known whether the abduction of Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala's mother is for political or financial gain.
"Yesterday, the Four Brigade raided Ogwashi-Ukwu in search of Mama," army spokeswoman Roseline Managbe told Reuters, adding that "those arrested are being questioned."
Criminal gangs regularly kidnap people for ransom in Nigeria, but it is rare for them to target members of the political elite.
Two policemen were also arrested this week on suspicion of aiding the kidnappers of Okonjo.
Managbe said two Lebanese men working for Nigerian construction company Setraco had been abducted on Tuesday in Delta State by gunmen who killed a soldier assigned to protect them.
The finance minister, a campaigner against corruption, has received threats in the past, her special adviser Paul Nwabuikwu said on Sunday.
CP advises monarchs to fortify palaces
The commissioner of police in Delta State, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, yesterday advised monarchs to engage palace guards to fortify their palaces.
Aduba, who gave the advice when he paraded 25 suspected kidnapers and armed robbers in Asaba, said that the suspects were arrested this week..
He said that the kidnap of Mrs Kanene Okonjo had further reinforced the need for the monarchs to make use of their guards.
Aduba decried the situation where monarchs' palaces were easily accessed by just anybody, saying that it exposed the monarchs to risk.
According to him, "the palace should be fortified and the job of the police is to complement the security. If you have a palace, you are supposed to have your guards and not to rely solely on police security.
"Palace guards are very necessary. Security is everybody's business and if you talk about the vigilance group, they are under the monarchs."
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What is unique about the Nigerian specific circumstantial is the revolving nature, quintessentially Nigerian. Prior to Madam Okonji's kidnapping, question going round the circles had been centered on the wisdom to punish the suffering citizens instead of making it hard to allow those who caused all of the nations mayhem live peacefully among those whose lives they have ruined. At a time when Ngozi have chosen the road of wisdom to fight from inside to alleviate the suffering of her countrymen/women , we have another quagmire to wonder the wisdom of these kidnapers to reign in on her mother . Every citizen seem to have lost hope on Jonathan and his men capacity to deliver on numerous promises while the national expenditure keep escalating beyond reason. Look at Obama's brilliant fight to set his nation on track in the next four years, it's an exemplary audacity to accomplish the peoples will in practical form worth emulation .