By Wale Akinola & Antonia Onwuka

The scene is like one taken from a commando film. A convoy of three vehicles appears at Umuafouka junction, Ukbariki, near Aba in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

Inside the three vehicles are top members of the Nigeria Union of  Journalists (NUJ) from Ogun, Delta and Lagos States, among others. They had just attended a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting of the NUJ in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State for two days where they had deliberations on the state of their union.

*Wahab Oba (left) and his colleagues

They  also deliberated on contemporary developments in the nation including insecurity especially kidnapping which started as part of the activism of militants in the Niger Delta region but has now spread to the south east. Now, Sunday, July 11, the top NUJ members, in high spirits after their successful deliberations at the NEC meeting, are returning home, in the convoy of three vehicles. They have just crossed the border of Akwa Ibom State and now in Abia State.

Suddenly, another vehicle, reportedly a Volvo car, pulls up behind them. The car tries to over take the journalists convoy. As the car overtakes, gun wielding men inside fire at the convoy. The shots hit the rear tyres of the vehicle leading the convoy but the brave driver speeds off. The driver of the second vehicle in the convoy is not as lucky. The car with the gun totting men crosses it and, in a jiffy, the men take the driver and four journalists inside into their own car and the car speeds off to an unknown place.

That begins the kidnapping of the top journalists – Mr Wahab Oba, chairman of the Lagos Council of the NUJ; Zone G secretary, Adolphus Okonkwo; assistant secretary, Sylva Okereke and Sola Oyeyipo. About two and a half hours later, the abductors establish contact with the national chairman of the NUJ, Mallam Mohammed Garba and tell him that the journalists are not only in their custody but  also that  the payment of N250 million ransom will give them freedom.

Meanwhile, the colleagues of the captives in the convoy who escaped report the incident to the police in Abia State. Reactions to the kidnapping have been one of outrage on national scale. But, whereas security agencies have vowed to fish out the men behind the incident in a state which has now become a haven of kidnappers, the abductors are sticking to their guns that the journalists, would be released only upon the payment of the N250 million ransom. And the battle of wits between them and security operatives continued…. at press time Friday.

Diary of kidnapping

• Nkem Owoh, Nigerian popular actor and comedian, also known as Osuofia, kidnapped along Enugu-Port Harcourt Expressway. The kidnappers demanded a ransom of N15 million from the family.

• January 27, 2007: Anambra State commissioner for women affairs, Dr. Ego Cordelia Uzoezi and her son, Kenechukwu, kidnapped at Nsugbe, near Nwafor Orizu College of Education. The kidnappers demanded N50 million ransom.

• June 8, 2008: The  managing director of Bob Izua Motors, Bob Izua,  kidnapped in Benin.  He was released after N5 million ransom was paid.

• August 16, 2009: Unknown gunmen kidnapped movie star, Pete Edochie, in Onitsha, the commercial centre of Anambra State.

• August 21, 2009: The traditional ruler of Mgboko Ngwa Amaise autonomous community and the chairman of Obingwa traditional rulers council, HRH Eze Eberechi Dick, kidnapped in his village. He was released after N10 million ransom was paid.

• August 25, 2009: Kelechi Nwankpa, the chairman of Obingwa council in Abia State, kidnapped on his way to his office in his village. He  was released after the state government paid N10 million ransom.

• September, 2009: Secretary to Kaduna State Government, SSG, Mr. Waje Yayok, kidnapped. The abductors asked for N40 million ransom.

• October 28, 2009: Pa Simeon Soludo, 78, father of ex-governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, kidnapped in his home in Isuofia. His kidnappers demanded  N5 billion ransom for his release.

•  June, 13, 2010: A traditional ruler of the Umebulu community in Rivers State, Eze Sunday Njoku, kidnapped in church.

• July 11, 2010: The chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, Lagos Council, Mr. Wahab Oba and four other journalists kidnapped by gunmen in Ukbariki, near in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

• July 12, 2010: Mother of the former president of the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, Sani Lulu kidnapped. Alhaji Laruba Abdullahi was abducted from her home in Idah in Kogi State.

Outrage…on  national scale

What the people say

• NUJ national president, Mallam Mohammed Garba: “I got a call from Zain network which is no longer going through; I spoke with Oba who was shouting, screaming, begging us to give them (kidnappers) what they want.”

• Save Nigeria Group (SNG): “These latest victims of kidnapping show the level of insecurity in Nigeria”.

• Alhaja Barakat Abdulwahab, wife of Wahab Oba, one of the captives: “I appeal to my husband’s abductors to release him. I also appeal to the Federal Government not to leave us at this point but to do everything within its powers to see that our husbands are released.”

• Mrs Christiana Okereke, wife of another victim: “I was terribly shocked when I heard that they were abducted.”

• Minister of  Information and Communications, Prof. Dora Akunyili: “The abduction of these four prominent and innocent journalists while on active duty is a challenge to security agencies to reinforce ongoing security operations in Abia State.”

• Senate President David Mark: “Enough of this embarrassment. We cannot continue to allow this to happen; criminality of any form is condemnable, it cannot be our way of life.”
• Inspector general of police Ogbonna Onovo; “Since these criminal elements have decided to dare the might of the police, the might of the Federal Government, it has come to the point where we have to pay them back in their own coins.”

• Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER): “The south east governors and the IG must see this as one of the greatest challenges in the history of kidnapping in Nigeria.”

• Governor T.A. Orji of Abia State: “Abia people, the families of those kidnapped and the entire nation are worried over the development. I am appealing to the kidnappers to release the journalists without hurting them.”

* Comptroller of Federal Operations Unit, Zone A of the Customs, Emmanuel Kane: “No investor would come into the country if people are being abducted. No journalist has an industry, how are they expected to pay huge ransom.”

* Governor Peter Obi of Anambra State and Chairman, South East Governors Forum: “For the avoidance of doubt, governments of the south east states will henceforth seize and revoke the Certificate of Occupancy of any  property   used to facilitate kidnapping.”

“Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE): “It is frightening that journalists whose primary  responsibility is to help the weak to survive have become targets of unconscionable crime of kidnap.”

* Mr Olisa Agbakoba: “One major factor is failure of policing in the region. It is irreconcilable that the south east has the highest number of police checkpoints, sometimes at 50 metres apart and kidnappers, and other criminals still hold sway.”

* Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar: “Our security forces should do everything humanly possible to rescue them. Kidnapping is evil and it should be visited with the severest punishment.”

* Abia Elders Forum: “The disgraceful incidence of kidnapping of innocent journalists passing through our state has further exposed the failed and corrupt leadership in Abia State.”

* Newspaper Proprietors Association of Nigeria (NPAN): “We need to inquire once again  about the capacity and present structure of the nation’s policing system to effectively rise to such challenges, especially in the context of crime prevention.”

* Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF): “If journalists of all segments of the society could be kidnapped, then no one else is safe. Something urgent has to be done about the security situation in the country.”

* Delta State Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan: “I must say that this is a shameful and barbaric act. Indeed I have been worried since I learnt of the kidnap of the journalists. Why would anyone contemplate such a thing if he is not a mad man?  But we must fight this evil and permanently exterminate it because it is bringing us shame especially before the international community”.

* Media Rights Agenda (MRA) Executive Director, Mr. Edetaen Ojo: “ We demand that the police should deploy all the resources at their  disposal to ensure  that they find the abducted journalists, free them and bring the perpetrators to justice.”

Timeline of  kidnapping:

Sunday, July 11
• 9 a.m: Journalists depart Uyo, Akwa Ibom State capital after NUJ two-day NEC meeting.

• 11 a.m.: Kidnappers strike at Umuafouka junction, Ukbariki near Aba in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

• Colleagues from Ogun and Delta State in victims convoy escape, report incident to security agencies.

• Kidnappers call NUJ national president, Mallam Mohammed Garba, to demand N250 million ransom for victims release.

• Police inspector general, Mr Ogbonna Onovo, orders police commissioners in Ibom and Akwa Ibom States to join their  Imo counterpart to find kidnapped journalists.

Monday, July 12

• FG asks police to rescue victims

• Abia police commissioner, Jonathan Johnson, says kidnapped journalists whereabouts unknown.

• Wives of victims plead with abductors to release their husbands.

• Nigeria Guild of Editors condemns incident

• Lagos NUJ Council says unions has opened negotiations with kidnappers

• One of the captives wives, Mrs Barakat Oba, raises alarm over deteriorating health of her 80-year old mother in law following the kidnapping.

Tuesday, July 13

• Police IG rushes to Abia, gives kidnappers 24 hours to release kidnapped journalists.

• Police mobilise traditional rulers in Abia to assist in  locating kidnappers hideout

• South east governors threaten rulers in whose domains kidnapping occurs.

* NUJ president tells kidnappers union does not have N250m ransom to pay; hints abductors may release their captives by Wednesday.

Wednesday, July 14

• Senate President David Mark and Anglican Church Primate, Most Revd Okoh call for state of emergency against kidnapping and armed robbery.

• IGP Onovo meets south-east  traditional rulers, tells them they were happy when he was appointed as police boss and being their son, they should not be the ones to remove him through their deeds.

– Mr Wahab Oba, in a telephone conversation with the national president of the NUJ, Mallam Muhammed Garba, says kidnappers treating them well but urges Nigerians to pray for their quick release as there is nothing like freedom.

Thursday, July 15

• Kidnappers reduce ransom to N30 million.

•Abia state governor, Theodore Orji, optimistic that the kidnapped men would be released, says the state government is doing all it could to ensure that the journalists regained freedom.

• Northern Governors Forum, NGF, chairman, Dr Babangida Aliyu, assures the NUJ and families of the kidnapped journalists that everything necessary is being done to secure their release, says kidnapping is causing international embarrassment to the country.

Friday, July 16

• President Jonathan surmons South East Governors to Abuja.