Abducted owner of a Nigeria National League football club in Nigeria, Bernard Joman has finally been allowed to speak with his troubled family 24 hours after he was kidnapped on the Abuja-Okene road in North Central Nigeria.

The owner and proprietor of Dynamite Force football club of Iyamho, a side which narrowly missed qualification to the Nigeria Premier League at the end of the 2018/2019 league season via a penalty shoot out loss to Warri Wolves in a promotion play-off match played in Enugu, is being asked to cough out N20 million naira before he can be released by his abductors.

Bernard Joman was last seen at the Annual General Assembly of the NFF IN Benin-City on Wednesday and as gathered by Wole Opatola, a reporter at the AGM, Bernard Joman drove himself to his hometown of Auchi before connecting Abuja to sort out his players league licensing and was on his way back when he was kidnapped alongside two others.

Breaking the unfortunate news of his captivity by the men of the underworld, Osaro Asemota, the Chairman of the Edo State FA, disclosed that the Nigerian security have already been notified while the FA is also in touch with his family and following every development keenly. “ I have just got off the phone with his wife. We are monitoring the situation. They have contacted the family and they have made their demands. We are on top of the situation”, Asemota assured.

Dynamite Force FC are billed to take on Nilayo FC of Abeokuta in Iyamho in an NNL game on Sunday but it is not known as at press time if the game will still go on as scheduled as there is visible apprehension in the camp of the Edo State side even as the media officer, Shehu Momodu tried to sound positive on phone when contacted by this reporter.

“We are calling on the appropriate authorities to come to the rescue of our chairman. We urge our fans to channel their thoughts and prayers towards the chairman for his quick release. We believe that at the end, we shall say glory be to God”, he prayed.

Bernard Joman is from Auchi but resides in Benin-City, Edo state Nigeria.

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