By Jude Michael
An Anambra indigene, Mr Linus Chukwuma, has recounted his experience with kidnappers, who he identified as Fulani herdsmen.
Chukwuma said the incident happened in Ukwulu, a town very close to the state capital.
He said he was kidnapped on a Friday afternoon while coming to Awka and was later released on Sunday evening.
It was gathered that his friends formed a WhatsApp group and made donations which culminated in millions and delivered to the Fulani kidnappers before he was released.
There have been stories of kidnapping by Fulani herdsmen around Ukwulu for a while. A woman had recently narrated her ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers after she and her husband were abducted in the same area. She said herself, her husband and maid, were repeatedly raped by the kidnappers who, she insisted, were of Fulani origin.
Chukwuma in his testimony of his ordeal said: ‘Last week Friday, I was with my close friend and colleague, Tony Anigbobu, in his Sienna car, alongside another of our female colleague, driving back home from the office which is less than two minutes’ drive to the Abba/Ukpo Junction.
‘Unknown to us, three hoodlums (Fulanis) had perfect plans to attack us. They jumped out from the bush at Ukwulu (the leader with AK-47, the other two with a stick and machete).
‘The group leader flagged us down, and the two boys hurriedly jumped into our vehicle and dragged Tony and I out and straight inside the nearby forest. Meanwhile, I had already thrown my phone inside the car before the criminals had approached me.
‘Then began our journey into the kidnappers’ den in the thick Ukwulu forests. We trudged for more than 30 minutes inside the forest before we stopped and were blindfolded with clothes and our hands tied as well. We were beaten like common criminals and asked not to cry or they would waste us.
‘One of them spotted my army-like coloured underwear and accused me of being a military personnel. Each turn I took to exonerate myself from being a soldier resulted in severe manhandling with a promise that they would waste my life, even after collecting ransom. I kept begging them that I had never touched a gun in my life not to consider joining the military. All my pleas fell on deaf ears.
‘Around 8pm on the same Friday night, they moved us away from the forest to another location where we spent the first night in captivity. But before we slept, they asked Tony and me to call our family and friends to arrange for N60 million ransom each or they would use the money for our funerals.
‘At that time I was devastated and in a state of shock that I didn’t remember any person’s phone number to call except my elder brother.
‘Because I was not with my phone, I had limited contacts to place calls to and request for any form of assistance. I remember speaking with my friend, Kingsley Ubani, who has always been supportive of me, and told him to inform my good friends, Emeka Trice Obi and Stanley Ikenna Onwuchekwe, of my ordeal.
‘These criminals will always tie my face and hands during the day and untie my face at dusk, while my hands were permanently tied during my days at the den.
‘The emotional and psychological trauma can better be imagined than experienced and I cannot even wish my enemies what we passed through in the hands of these criminals.
‘I sincerely appreciate members of this platform for their tremendous support and solidarity. The rare gesture will be remembered by me and my family,’ the man said.
Meanwhile, in the platform where Chukwuma appreciated those who contributed to his release, many Anambra indigenes have called on Governor Chukwuma Soludo to rise up and rid the state of criminal elements.
One of the respondents who didn’t want his name mentioned, said: ‘Those people did not start terrorizing that road today, it’s just that it has become more often these days.
‘These people rape our women and men alike. People in that area no longer visit their farms.
‘I don’t want to believe that Soludo has not heard stories of the atrocities of these people. He needs to act fast. If he is afraid that the powers that rule Nigeria may come against him, he can use the Anti-Open Grazing Law which the House of Assembly passed into law during the (Willie) Obiano Administration to take these people out of our midst,’ the man contended.
