Renowned Nigerian novelist Elechi Amadi has been kidnapped by unknown gunmen in the Niger Delta region.
Three gunmen took the writer away from his home about 15km (nine miles) east of the city of Port Harcourt on Monday evening.
It is the latest in a series of high profile abductions in the region by armed men.
His grand-daughter - who witnessed the kidnap at his home in Aluu in the Ikwere area of Rivers State - told the media that no family member had been harmed.
No reason has been given for the abduction, however some family members believe it is linked to Amadi’s current tenure as chairman of the state scholarship board.
‘Militancy’
Security authorities maintain that every effort is being made to ensure the release of the novelist.
Amadi has published several books including The Great Ponds, The Slave, and The Concubine - which is a highly regarded classic in African literature.
The 74-year-old achieved considerable international fame in the 1960s and 1970s for his literary depictions of the customs and beliefs of rural village life in Africa before contact with the West.
In an interview last year with The Vanguard, a Lagos-based newspaper, Amadi condemned militant violence in the Niger Delta.
“Situations where you have a mob ready to pillage and kill, [and] kidnap, then that is debased militancy,” he was quoted as saying.
Kidnappings have become rampant in the Niger Delta region as a number of prominent people and family members of public office holders have been abducted in recent months and released after ransoms were paid.
Militants in the Niger Delta say they are fighting for a bigger share of Nigeria’s oil wealth, but the government says many attacks are actually carried out by criminal gangs looking to extort money.
Tags: Elechi Amadi, Kidnappings, Militants, Niger Delta, Nigeria
now this is sad