allAfrica.com: Nigeria: Abia - A State in the Grip of Kidnappers (Page 1 of 3)

"Have you heard the latest kidnap cases in Abia? a friend called last June 27. "A gang of kidnappers was smashed at Usaka in Ikwuano LGA," he said. Somebody had reported about the criminal gang. And the state government had mobilised its security apparatuses, including the police and rounded up the group in their coven in Ikwuano area of the state.

The government had paid N1m to the informant. In that camp, as they call the kidnappers' hideouts in the state, "Many folks kidnapped from many parts of the country were seen and rescued, such as a girl of three, kidnapped in Lagos, Ogochukwu etc. It is terrible that twice Ikwuano has been indicted. Mrs Nwakudu's case and now this," the caller went on.

The voice was lamenting the orgy of kidnappers that has seized Abia state. Less than one month after the call, another caller on July 22, reported that "Our governor was today attacked along Port Harcourt Road. His security, mobile police, ran into the bush and removed their clothes." As at the time of writing this report, chairman of Abia's Obingwa LGA was reportedly kidnapped, last week.

That all is not well with Abia is palpable in the state. Those calls were unnerving calls as kidnapping had never been heard of in that part of the world. The South East of Nigeria is generally a quiet region. The cases of violence that usually erupt from there are mainly armed robbers, and sometimes, political unrest of such group as Movement for the Actualisation of the Sovereign Republic of Biafra (MASSOB).

The new Chief Press Secretary to the governor, Mr. Sam Hart, had also expressed worry at the development, saying "kidnapping is a novel thing in the state."

But the reporter's decision to travel there was viewed with trepidation by his colleagues in Abia. Some of them told him that they "try to avoid that story."

"Why?" he asked them. "It is sensitive," another supplied. When he insisted on coming for the job, one of them asked him, "Will fear allow them (victims) to talk? Will they tell exactly or the amount spent? Are the ladies sexually molested?" another put in. "Try, but you must be covering your tracks," he said.

"They are sapping people here. Making easy money. Times are really hard. It may be hard to get the victims," another reporter pointed out.

Sadly, though, some of the kidnap victims do not talk about their experience which the state says frustrates its effort to stamp out the scourge. Some of them such as Mrs Nwakudu have even relocated from the town and state.

Such is the level of insecurity in Abia. When he arrived there, about 11 pm, the railway station, called Gate, was like a ghost town. At the station, the reporter wanted a cab to take him to the area known as World Bank. The woman selling drinks there warned him that it is a dangerous area. And that nobody would go there. But a man sitting beside her told her it was a lie. That taxis still went there at that time.

Umuahia is not really a night crawling town. Here, people fear to venture out in the night for fear of being grabbed by the police or attacked by armed robbers. In this state, one can still be arrested for trumped up offences such as wandering.

A man is still in prison arrested for this offence and since he could not 'bail' himself out for N2000, he was quickly taken to court. So far, he has spent two years there. So, people are careful to avoid this law of the jungle. Even the hotel management will warn you not to go out about 11 pm, not for fear of armed robbers, but of the police. That was a sad introduction to the reporter because for him, a city can be said to be safe only at night.

But next door, Owerri, a city also recently in the news for kidnapping, people milled around, shouting and playing music. For Umuahia, though, with the news of kidnapping in the state, it appears the town has descended more into a state of fear. Some of the kidnap cases that readily come to mind include the Executive Chairman, Abia State Universal Basic Education Board ASUBEB, Chief John Iruke. He was kidnapped one morning from his house as he set out for work in the first week of last month.

During the kidnap of Iruke, one of his personal aides was shot, and he sustained serious injuries. The aide was admitted in an undisclosed hospital for treatment. Iruke was reported to have paid some millions of naira as ransom. A Mrs Rich Onyeaso, wife of Engineer Onyeaso, a well known figure in the state was another victim.. Another was a Dr Amanamba's wife, public figure there, and also one magistrate, Mrs Grant Osu.

A member of the Abia State House of Assembly, Monday Ejegbu was also kidnapped in Umuahia as he went to collect his clothes from a laundry on Herbert Macaulay Street.

Another case involved one Rev Udo Igwe. A woman who lives beside a Justice Aguwamba was said to have also been abducted at her home at Ikwuano. She was made to stay in the car for hours. But after many hours, she was asked to step out. That was in Port Harcourt. Alas, all that driving was made in Ikwuano. The good news though is that the police were said to have arrested the folks when they drove out with her vehicle to call their boss.

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