By Samuel Oyadongha

Yenagoa—The paramount ruler of Tombia town in Yenagoa Local Government Area, Bayelsa State, Chief Christian Otobotekere, said the 17 days he spent last year in the kidnappers’ den were his “darkest days.”

Chief Otobotekere was abducted from his palace at Tombia on July 23 by armed men and released 17 days later.

Relieving his experience in Yenagoa, weekend, at the unveiling of The Mariner, a journal published by the state chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors, ANA, the royal father said though the 17 days opened his eyes to the involvement of unemployed graduates to violent crimes, the time spent with his abductors was unpalatable.

He said though he was not maltreated, “the 17 days spent with the kidnappers was enough maltreatment.

“I was thinking of my students, the community and the nation in general. That is why the experience will be titled days of aberration in my next work.”

Chief Otobotekere, who is a literary icon and patron of the ANA, said he engaged his abductors in discussion and discovered that some of them were graduates and students of the arts and literary world.