By Anayo Okoli

UMUAHIA—SENATOR Theodore Orji, representing Abia Central senatorial district has dismissed the position of Senate Minority Leader, Senator Godswill Akpabio, that kidnapping for ransom began in Abia State and alleged that it was Akpabio’s administration in Akwa Ibom that used kidnapping to silence political opponents.

According to Orji, what his administration did was to inject huge resources to tackle the menace when it came to Abia from neighbouring states of Akwa Ibom and others.

A statement by Don Norman Obinna, Media Adviser to Senator Orji, alleged that Akpabio fabricated falsehood to shield himself and to “placate the Ibibio People’s Union Inc., and other international monitoring groups who have in their possession, documented lists of kidnapped victims, including expatriates, clerics, politicians and children, numbering over 102 and seven others, including a royal father who escaped kidnap during Akpabio’s era as governor.

The statement said that while Akwa Ibom under Akpabio witnessed high level of commercial kidnapping, Abia State under Orji was busy spending huge resources to combat the spill over of the menace from Akwa Ibom and other states.