PETROAN’s BOT Chairman Obasi Lawson freed after kidnap ordeal

Mkpoikana Udoma

Port Harcourt — Chief Obasi Lawson, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Petroleum Products Retail Outlets Owners Association of Nigeria, PETROAN, and CEO of Sobaz Group of Companies, has regained his freedom after being abducted by gunmen in Abia State.

Lawson was kidnapped on Tuesday, March 4, 2025, in Azumini community, Abia State, after his SUV was ambushed by assailants, leaving his driver, Mr. Anayo Ukwu, and his special assistant, Mazi Confidence Chijioke, dead. The three police escorts accompanying them reportedly escaped during the attack.

His release, which occurred in the early hours of Monday, has been met with relief and gratitude from PETROAN members.

“To the glory of God, our BOT Chairman and MD of Sobaz Group, Chief Obasi Lawson, is back from the kidnappers’ net. We return every glory back to God,” PETROAN’s National Public Relations Officer, Dr. Joseph Obele said in a statement.

While in kidnapper’s custody, PETROAN had demanded a full-scale investigation into the attack, particularly the role of the three police escorts who fled during the ambush.

“We are calling on the Inspector General of Police to intervene and unravel the circumstances surrounding this tragic incident,” PETROAN National President Dr. Billy Gillis Harry had stated.

Harry, while mourning the brutal killing of Mazi Confidence Chijioke, described his death as “an injury too much to bear.”

Chijioke, who was PETROAN’s Vice Chairman in Rivers State and Managing Director of Dozzman Filling Stations, was also set to commission a multimillion-naira filling station in Port Harcourt before his tragic demise.

“Confidence was a pillar of PETROAN, and his death is a heavy blow not just to his family but to the entire oil and gas industry,” Harry lamented.