A middle-aged woman who was abducted last Friday by suspected herdsmen on the Idodo axis of the ever-busy Enugu-Abakaliki Road has regained her freedom after three days in captivity. This is even as she has blasted the governments of Enugu and Ebonyi states respectively for allowing kidnapping to become entrenched in the area.
The woman, a staff member of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo (AE-FUNIA) who lives in Kpirikpiri, Abakaliki told LEADERSHIP that she and other passengers coming to Abakaliki from Enugu were abducted at about 3pm on the fateful day.
Narrating her ordeal, she said a group of boys in their early 20s carrying dangerous weapons blocked the road and ordered the driver and all the passengers out of the commercial bus.
She said, “Our abductors immediately led us into the thick forest where they forced us to contact our families to pay ransom for our release. When we got to their hideout, we realised that there were other victims there.
“They were making outrageous demands from our families. They called my husband who is a civil servant to raise the sum of N15 million to secure my release. We were kept there for days.
“The most agonising part of it is that they did not give us food nor water and yet we go through serious beating in a bid to force our families to respond to their demand. Thank God that we were able to meet their demand and I am back to my family.”
She expressed concern over the inability of the governments of Enugu and Ebonyi states to collaborate with the military, the two state police commands and the Department of State Services (DSS) to flush out the hoodlums from the hideout.
“It is very unfortunate that almost every two to three days, kidnapped victims are brought into the hideout, yet the governments of Ebonyi and Enugu states are yet to show concern to the plight of their innocent citizens.
“It is now dangerous to ply the Enugu-Abakaliki Road. Something urgent needs to be done to stop the incessant kidnapping of mostly Ebonyi and Enugu indigenes using the highway.
“Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State and Governor Peter Mba of Enugu State must find a lasting solution to the ugly incident along the road. The kidnapping rate along the axis has taken a different dimension and must be stopped,” she said.
When contacted, the Ebonyi State police spokesperson DSP Joshua Ukandu said that the Enugu State Police command is working assiduously towards flushing out the hoodlums.
He said the command has reached out to its counterpart in Enugu State, adding that recently, the Enugu State governor gave marching orders that the hoodlums be flushed out.
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