From left: Mr. Sylva Okereke, Assistant Secretary, NUJ Lagos Council; Mr. Wahab Alabi Oba, Chairman; Mr. Adolphus Okonkwo, former Secretary, Lagos NUJ; and Sola Oyeyipo, Lagos NUJ member on their arrival at the Ikeja Aiport, yesterday. Photo: Lamidi Bamidele

By Olasunkanmi Akoni, Jemi Ekunkunbor & JImoh Babatunde
LAGOS CHAIRMAN of Lagos State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Mr. Wahab Oba, and three other journalists: Mr. Adolphus Okonkwo, Sylva Okereke, Shola Oyeyipo, with their driver, Mr. Azeez Abdulraf,  kidnapped by gunmen at Umuafouka junction, near Ukwakiri, in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, a week ago, regained their freedom, yesterday.

They arrived Lagos at about 6.30 pm aboard a chattered ZS-SME flight at the Local Air wing, Ikeja to the warm embrace of journalists who turned out in their large numbers.

According to reports, they regained their freedom between 1.30 and 2.00 a.m. at Ukwakiri.

Narrating their ordeal to newsmen at the Police Headquarters, Umuahia; Wahab and the others said  they were released by their abductors miraculously in a market.

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He said the hoodlums had taken them to a market square where they were abandoned between 1.30 a.m. and 2.00 a.m. and that they had to wait till 6.00 a.m.

Wahab said: “We were there until the police came and rescued us. They collected all our personal effects, including laptops, wrist watches and the sum of N3 million and even shared the money in our presence.”

He said they were fed on bread once a day but that at a time they declared a fast “and they asked us if we were fasting against them.”

Wahab noted: “We explained to them that we were journalists, at the vanguard of enthroning good governance, and even told them that we were at the forefront in the campaign for the release of Chief  Ralph Uwazuruike. We even requested them to give our phones to us to contact our families for them to bring the money they requested but they said that they were not after our money but that of the government.
Every passing minute  was harrowing, hopeless— Oba

They arrived at about 630 pm aboard chattered ZS-SME flight at the Local Air wing, Ikeja, to the warm embrace of journalists who turned out in their large numbers.

The first to step out of the chartered plane was Wahab Oba, who was all smiles, in an orange coloured T-shirt, followed by Shola Oyeyipo, Adolphus Okonkwo, Sylva Okereke all spotting T-Shirts but were all speechless.

They were immediately driven to Iyalla, Ladi Lawal Press Centre where they addressed a large crowd of journalists.

Oba in high spirit said: “We were sleeping in chains, and given a meal per day at about 12 noon. They moved us around every two hours. Sylva became our soothsayer, Adolphus cried like a baby, and Shola vowed to be a devout Christian after. We fasted on Friday before our release yesterday”.

We were not beaten but blindfolded

“We were not beaten except that they blindfolded us on some occasions. The kidnappers told us that they resorted to protests as a result of bad governance in Abia and accused the state government of diverting the money the Federal Government released for amnesty.

“They told us that they were giving the state government one month to either complete the amnesty programme or face their wrath, stressing that they would come out openly to shoot at people.”

Wahab said the hoodlums accused the government of insensitivity to the plight of residents of the state and threatened to disrupt the 2011 general elections.

Mr. Sylva Okereke, a Daily Champion correspondent, said that at a point the kidnappers blindfolded them and took them to a point they were to be slaughtered.

They told us to say our final prayers

He said: “They told us to say our final prayers. I don’t know whether government paid any money but they told us that they did not collect any money and that they were releasing us due to our profession so that we would go and right the wrongs in the society.”

Okereke who described the kidnapping incident as a sad event, said that the hoodlums had the best of communication networking, adding that all the information that transpired in the course of their captivity were at the finger-tips of the kidnappers.

He said: “These people are well connected and are aware of every bit of police movement both internal and external,” adding that the kidnappers’ colleagues outside the country were also communicating with them.

Meanwhile, the Abia State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Jonathan Johnson declined comments, saying  the Inspector General of Police would soon be in Umuahia to address journalists on the issue.

Community calm as commissioner, others react

Ukwakiri in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia, where the kidnapped journalists were rescued, was calm,  yesterday, but there was still a heavy presence of security men in the area.

Reports said that the people carried on their normal activities but expressed joy that the journalists regained their freedom unhurt.

Policemen posted to the area on the rescue operation were also happy as one of them told NAN at their camp in Ukwakiri Primary School that their allowances were stopped over the problem.

The policeman, who did not want to be named, said there was a standing instruction from “the top” that no allowance be paid them till the journalists were rescued alive.

Chief Okoro Kalu, a community leader, told NAN that he was happy that the journalists, who had helped to shape the country positively, regained their freedom.

He said: “We all in prayers consulted oracles in the community and were assured that the journalists were still alive. We are happy they have regained their freedom at last.”

Chief Azuka Alagwu, the President of Aba Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, said the kidnapping of the journalists had drawn the attention of the Federal Government to the sufferings of the Aba business community.

He urged the government to eradicate kidnapping to save businesses in Aba, which is 10 kilometres from Obingwa.

Alagwu commended the Federal Government and security agencies for conducting the rescue operation successfully and urged them to sustain the tempo toward eradicating kidnapping in Nigeria, adding: “The progress so far shows a hope for Nigeria , they should not relent.”

‘Govt should deploy more policemen’

Chief Nwogu Iheasimuo, Chairman, Abia State Amalgamated Tricycle Operators Association, Aba Zone, told NAN that the rescue operation had restored calm to Aba.

He urged the government to deploy more security operatives to the state, particularly in Aba, where hoodlums had allegedly run the people out of business.

Meanwhile, Mrs. Ibim Semenitari, the Rivers Commissioner for Information, has expressed gratitude to God over the release of the  journalists by their abductors.

The commissioner said in Port Harcourt that it was a thing of joy that the journalists came out unharmed.

The commissioner who  thanked the security agencies for their role in the operation, added: “I wish to commend Mr. President for his commitment to the security of lives and property in the country.”

Also, Mr. Akinola Ariyo, Financial Secretary, Lagos State Council of NUJ, said on telephone that journalists in the council were happy over the freedom of their colleagues.

Ariyo said: “All newsmen in Lagos council of NUJ are very happy about the release of the kidnapped journalists. Today (Sunday), we are holding a stakeholders meeting, which will be followed by an executive council meeting.”
Ariyo thanked the Federal and State governments, the security agencies and NUJ President Muhammad Garba for their roles in the release of the journalists.

He also thanked other members of NUJ, religious leaders and Nigerians for their prayers over the incident.

Reactions trail release of abducted journalists

“Stand up against criminals, pay no ransom,” an elated Minister of Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili, told  Nigerians, yesterday, following the release of the journalists who were kidnapped on July 11.

Akunyili said payment of ransom had encouraged kidnapping which has now become an industry, adding: “I just feel so happy that our brothers are safe and no one succumbed to the threat of the kidnappers who are criminals that go about torturing people emotionally.”

In his reaction, the President of the Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, Mr Gbenga Adefaye  recommended that a harsh example be made of deviants to put an end to kidnapping.

‘Put an end to kidnapping’

He said: “We hope government will put an end to these incidents of kidnap that embarrasses us all and makes Nigeria look like an uncharted jungle. We hope the President will take a strong step on security and reassure everyone that Nigeria is a safe place peopled by decent citizens. We also hope that journalists will not be afraid to perform their duties as enshrined in the Constitution.”

The National Secretary of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Leman Shuaib, said  Nigerians should resolve to make the recent episode, the last of kidnap saga in the country.

He told NAN that it was time the nation got rid of the menace of such despicable and embarrassing act, adding: “For the first time, the nation stood up against an irresponsible act, but this kidnapping should be the last that would occur in this country.”

The NUJ president called on government to use all the arsenal at its disposal to flush out criminals that had taken over, especially in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

He also asked the people of the LGA to cleanse one another of the stigma, noting  that the security forces still have men and women of distinction.

Shuaib said: “I can vouch for men and women in the State Security Service and the Police Force, but we believe that the police need to be properly equipped. The kidnappers were simply choked, and they took off.”

The Chairman of Lagos State Council of the NUJ, Mr Wahab Oba, and  three other journalists as well as their driver,  regained freedom in the early hours of yestrday, at Ukwakiri in Obingwa LGA.

An exhausted Oba told newsmen the kidnappers took them to a market place around 2.00 a.m. and abandoned them, after stripping them of their personal belongings.

Welcome to freedom— Editors

The Nigerian Guild of Editors, NGE, has welcomed the kidnapped journalists and their driver back to freedom after a harrowing week of kidnap by some deviants.

A statement signed by the President of NGE, Mr. Gbenga Adefaye said: “It is great relief that the journalists are back to their families alive and without harm.

“While we celebrate their lives in freedom, the Guild hopes that the security agents would not relent in the pursuit of those criminals who have done so much to blight our image and condemn us to the jungle.

We hope that the Federal Government would re-double its efforts to guarantee the security of lives and property and make the crime of kidnap poisonous enough to deter evil minded kidnappers in our midst.

“It is clearly unacceptable for any person or group to make any part of the country unsafe through the criminal act of kidnap.”