DSP Joshua Ukandu

PPRO Ebonyi State

A Middle aged woman who was abducted on Friday last week by suspected herdsmen along the Idodo axis of the ever busy Enugu-Abakaliki Express road yesterday regained her freedom after 3 days in captivity.

The middle aged woman, a staff of Alex Ekwueme Federal University Ndufu-Alike Ikwo, AE-FUNIA who resides at Kpirikpiri Abakaliki who spoke to Journalists on grounds of anonymity said that she alongside other passengers coming to Abakaliki from Enugu were abducted at about 3pm Friday afternoon.

Narrating her ordeal, she maintained that a group of boys in their early 20s carrying dangerous weapons blocked the Express road and ordered the driver and all the passengers out of the commercial bus.

“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 realized that there were other victims in their hideout.

“They were making outrageous demands from our families. They called my husband who is a civil servant to raise the sum of N15million to secure my release. We were kept there for days.

“The most agonizing part of it is that, they don’t 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 am back to my family.

She expressed concern over the inability of the Government of Enugu and Ebonyi State to collaborate with the Military, the two States Police Command and the State Security Service 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 two state government of Ebonyi and Enugu are yet to show concern to the plight of their innocent citizens.

“It is now dangerous to ply the Enugu-Abakaliki Express road. Something urgent needs to be done to stop the incessant kidnapping of mostly Ebonyi and Enugu indigenes using the Express road.

“Governor Francis Nwifuru of Ebonyi State and that of 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.

When contacted, the Ebonyi State Police Public Relations Officer PPRO DSP Joshua Ukandu said that the Enugu State Police command are working assiduously towards flushing out the hoodlums.

He said that the command have reached out to it’s counterpart in Enugu State adding that recently, the Enugu State Governor has given a matching order for the hoodlums to be flushed out.