A Kidnap Victims Account of an Abduction in Aba;
Security Men were Involved -
Written by Dr. Ohaka, MD
I was travelling from Aba in Abia state back to Port
Harcourt where I reside after a marriage introduction ceremony of my youngest
sister Nene in my family house in Aba. I left the house at about 4pm that day
15/5/2010 with my small uncle Anayo and a cousin Maureen. Maureen dropped
somewhere in Aba while I proceeded to Port Harcourt with Anayo.We had barely travelled 11km when we met what appeared to be
a routine Police check point at Ihie. Normally we were flagged down for routine
check at about 5pm or even later. I was asked for my driving license which I
produced, I was asked to come down and open my boot and it was at this point
that I was told to enter a waiting Kia saloon car facing right and at right
angle to the main express road. Other vehicles were stopped simultaneously for stop and
search.
An SUV that refused to stop was sprayed with bullets with apparent
missing of targets and within about 5minutes the operation was over. About 2 vehicles carried the victims, a Kia saloon and a
Pathfinder SUV. Some of us were loaded in the booths. After 5minutes drive into the village we were all blind
folded and now driven through untarred bush roads to an isolated location which
was a transit point. It took about extra 5minutes to get there. You know things
were happening fast and it was so easy to lose track of time. At this temporary site, we were thoroughly beaten with the
butts and barrels of the gun. I never knew pains could be felt in quick
succession after trauma to a particular point. When I was hit at the back with the AK47 assault rifle, I
felt the first superficial pain and this was followed immediately by another
crushing pain much deeper. We were about 15 people, men, women and children. After about 4hours, the women and children were driven back
to the road to find their ways home. We the men, about 9 in number now waited
for the next 1.5hours to be taken to their so-called police cell were they kept
captives. In the transit camp where we were kept, there is one small
house inhabited by a woman and some 2 or 3 children.
The woman had normal conversations with our captors and her small baby was always crying. We left
the temporary area in the same 2 vehicles and by 10minutes we were in the cell.
The place was surrounded by bushes and harboured a roofed but un-completed
block house with doors. A standby generator was on and I had lifted the scarf over
my eyes a little long before we left the transit location. We were bundled into
a dark room with one window and with 8 captives inside already.
The mode of capture of these previous 8 was targeted and not
as random as ours. Example the councillor was visited by them as a Police team
in a Police vehicle and informed that he was wanted in the police station in
connection with certain matters. He followed them willingly. We could only sit or lie down with our eyes covered. We were
17 in number in my cell. These include 3 Royal highnesses (The Eze of Isuochi, The
Eze of Omuma, and another very important Eze that I couldn't quite identify
well because he was taken away shortly for 'special treatment' and remained
there after I left), the councillor representing a constituency in Omuma
(hypertensive and diabetic), a retired NNPC manger (diabetic), a retired CBN
supervisor, a PTI lecturer/pastor, 2 yahoo fraudsters, drivers, a tailor, and
some others. Our cell phones, money and every other belonging were taken
from us apart from our clothing. Food is never given to the captives and water
is dispensed at extreme discretion of the captors and by my calculation this
amounted to 500mls alternate daily. At a point the councillor drank my water as I moved a little
out of my position to urinate. As it was close to midnight, the captors encouraged us to
pray and came in periodically to check on us.
I must tell you that we all prayed as never before till morning. We also continued to pray like that every
day. For me it was as true as daylight. The next day was a Sunday and at about 9am, the captor
in-charge of making contacts for the captives came into our cell enquiring for
people needing to contact their people for early release. It followed the sequence from interrogation about yourself
and work to brutality and torture, bargain for release and possible mortal
injury following failure to reach an amicable settlement. One of the captive's phone lines was always used for these
contacts. The man in charge of the contact making is called a name. I figure he
is the 3rd in command in the camp. He comes with aides who brutalize the
captives mercilessly on failure to agree to a stated bill which runs into
millions of naira.
My initial bill was N10million even though it came down to
N2m later. I was now asked to talk to my people. I talked to my people and
returned the phone to the captors for negotiation with my people. The first bidding
amount from my people was N100, 000 which earned me the beating of my life in
the hands his aides. I was hit with the gun repeatedly and while pointed close
to my neck with the gun corked and uncorked severally and with several
simultaneous kicks on the head and body, I was asked to talk to my people. The beating was temporarily halted when impressed it on my
people of the need again to be 'reasonable' amidst my cry of pains. I was one
of the youngest captive. One can now imagine the impact of the brutality on an
elderly man and the sick people. On that Sunday the councillor was beaten blue and black on
failure to accept the N10million request fast. This was a frail looking man
with 10 children, a wife and with the whole extended family as dependants. He
collapsed with repeated hits on the head, ribs, hands and every other parts of
the body with the butt, barrel of the gun and woods measuring 2inch x 2inch in
thickness. He was literally left helpless on the floor. He constantly bemoaned
his fate and wished to die in his house where his corpse will at-least be seen
and given a burial unlike the camp here where our captors will bury him.
He recovered a little by Monday but that never gave him any
reprieve as he continued to receive thorough beating like the rest of us. Many
of us all cried like babies. The councillor got his people to sell his new car,
his lands, and several other belongings and all amounted to the sum of N450,
000. He also sought to collect the month's contribution among 10 of his
colleagues amounting to N500, 000 which never materialized by the time I left
them. My brother it was pathetic for the diabetic and the
hypertensive. It is noteworthy that age was no barrier to the brutality because
we had 2 people who were above 70years of age, the Eze of Omuma and the Eze of
Isuochi. The first received thorough but a moderated level brutality
which increased sequentially with each daily failure to meet the captors'
demand while the second, though brutalized, had some significant consideration
because he is 74years. His wife had to walk virtually the whole streets begging
for money and he also had to sell lands. The rest received the same level of
brutality and torture which increased with every passing day. I tried to get close to the retired NNPC man who is also a
pastor because I felt he never understood the psychology of this group that
prefer to call themselves Abia State Militants. He never agreed to any fixed
amount and I felt he mistook the initial moderation of the brutality on him as
a spiritual effect. He is a retired man and probably over 60yrs of age. However, he was soon to understand that his judgment was
wrong. The mercilessness of the boys was un-paralleled because by the time I
was leaving the camp on Tuesday night there was a special torture session
carried out simultaneously by over 20 of the militants which I myself may have
found difficult to recover from despite my good physical fitness.
The captors had claimed that a cell phone had been stolen in
the camp and all the captives that refused to bargain 'properly' were
responsible. The captors appear not to have much interest on what they
regard as poor fools like drivers, gaunt looking people, mechanics, tailors
etc. Even though the 'poor fools' sometimes pay all their savings to the
captors, they tend to receive good considerations in terms of length of stay
only. I left the camp after the direct negotiation between my
people and my captors went through. We left the camp at about 10pm on Tuesday.
Those released that night were the Professor (Eze of Isuochi), one pastor, one
driver and my humble self. Three of us were bundled into the booth of a Nissan
Pathfinder SUV while Prof was given the privilege of sitting down comfortably
inside the car. As we left the camp, one or two small boys were moving about
close by and our captors questioned the supposed strangers in a loud voice
asking "who be that" and the small boys (I say small boys from their voice on
reply) answered "I beg na indigenes". The Eze of Omuma was released a day earlier after paying the
sum of one million two hundred thousand naira. After about 5minutes into our
journey to freedom, the SUV stopped suddenly and refused to start again. After
a few futile attempts to start the car, the four armed captors disembarked and
called the camp for another vehicle. They identified their position as opposite
the Nigerian Police Station. In less than 4minutes a new Toyota corolla arrived for us to
continue our journey. I was asked to enter the booth with the pastor/PTI
lecturer. They discharged us at Ihie junction and gave us transport money.
We all walked bare footed because even our shoes were
collected. I received N500.00. They also informed me that my vehicle was at the
Police station. The Prof and the released driver proceeded to Port Harcourt
while I proceeded to Aba with the pastor. I arrived my family house at Aba at about 12:09am on
Wednesday to the jubilation of my parents and every other person in the house
and on the street. I am grateful to my relatives who contributed immensely for
my release. They include my parents, my wife, my brother, my sisters, my
cousin, my uncles abroad, my in-laws, my mother's uncle, my aunt, the pastors
who prayed continually, my local church, my genuine friends who acted promptly
and several well wishers.I did not involve the police and it was the best decision.
The location of the camp is not hidden. The subdued villagers know them and
also know all their locations. Again the terrain of the area consisting of
thick bushes, well spaced houses and the bad nature of the road all combine to
favor the use of those locations by the militants. The militants tend to wear military uniforms in the camp and
police uniforms with police bullet proof vest outside the camp for their normal
operations. They carry AK47 assault rifles and perform drills each morning in
the bush around the cell building- the so-called camp.
All the boys spoke the local dialect- asa/ngwa version of Igbo
language. The chairman/leader of the group who authorized each release has
facial tribal marks, speaks same dialect. It may not surprise me if he is a
northerner and security personnel. It is impossible that the security agents do
not know their position. The joy of release subdued all the pains. I also forgot I
had not eaten for 4days. I proceeded to Ihie Police station to collect my car
as I was informed by my captors as my car was too old for an operational
vehicle. I saw the vehicle at local police station at Ihie. I fulfilled their formalities, made statements and informed
them of the release of Prof. In doing these I guarded my utterances because you
never know who the insiders were. I also spoke with the DPO of the station. I
also met some special police units who came on routine patrol to the police
station and narrated my ordeal to them. On this visit to retrieve my car I also observed that the
security agents concentrated their presence on the express road leaving the
entire village empty. My brother even the people you are supposed to report to are
scared and appear helpless. You also cannot rule out their support from
politicians because of several boasts of installing candidates come 2011.
Information flow freely in the camp there; it is
unimaginable how the information comes without government/security insiders. It also appeared they were planning relocation soon based on
the insiders' requests; possibly because of impending raid by government
forces. They claim to pay some insiders-the normal Nigerian settlement.It is pathetic the level Abia state has degenerated to. It
is a level just slightly above those of animals and the bottom line is greed,
corruption, power drunkenness. I understand Imo-state is following closely.I became ill on Thursday- the cumulative effects of the
ordeal. My heart goes out to the innocent men still in captivity. I
wonder if they will make it alive. They include the retired NNPC manger/pastor
in Winners chapel (Yoruba), retired CBN supervisor (igbo), the councillor
(Omuma), The Eze who I could not identify well. What if these kidnappers were ritualists; what would have
been our fate; it is all greed, corruption, power drunkenness. Until there is
good and committed leadership everything will continue to go downhill.
written by Dr Ohaka, MD.
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Subject: MUST READ DETAILS - ABIA STATE - HOW ORJI UZO KALU DESTROYED, STEAL AND TURN ABIA INTO KIDNAPPING ZONE*FOLKS, IGBOS, ABIANS, NIGERIANS, AFRICANS, AMERICANS, EUROPEANS, AND THE*Nigeria*: <http://allafrica.com/nigeria/> Abia - Fall of a Dynasty (1)
WORLD WORLD PLEASE READ BELOW AND SEE THE DETAIL OF WHAT ORJI UZO KALU DID
TO HIS PEOPLE. IT WAS BETTER ABIA STATE WAS INVOLVED IN A WAR FOR TEN YEARS
AND DEFEATED THAN WHAT A PERSON FROM THIS STATE WILL DO TO HIS PEOPLE WHO
GAVE HIM A CHANCE.*
**
*PEOPLE THAT SEE ORJI UZO KALUU AND HIS FAMILY MUST NOW KNOW WHAT A
DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENT AND ROGUE HIS FAMILY IS AND THIS IS THE STORY AND
DESTRUCTION AND STEALING ALL OVER NIGERIA, BUT SOME ARE HEART BREAKING LIKE
THIS ONE. PLEASE FOLKS READ CAREFULLY*
**
**
*
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*story of how orji uzo kalu family fake dynasty destroyed abia state*
**
*Godwin Adindu*
*7 July 2010 Thursday*
*
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*
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*analysis of how Abia state was destroyed by Orji Uzo Kalu Family*
*What came upon the commoners of France on July 14, 1789, that inspired them
with such suicidal courage that transmuted into a mass desperation to which,
undeterred by the shootings and the bodies of their ninety fallen men, they
marched ahead and invaded Bastille, that old prison and armoury? Why was the
discontent so high and what could have driven even septuagenarian men and
women to the streets on that cold afternoon to contribute their own stones
for the lynching of Louis xiv and his wife?*
*Indeed, the French revolution was, and still remains, the mother of all
revolutions, and historians are hardly unanimous on any issue save for the
"what" and the "why" of the anger of the commoners that led to the collapse
of the Ancien Regime - they were pushed to the wall.*
*Today, in circumstances quite synonymous with the frustration of the
commoners, another dynasty, the Kalu Dynasty, is crumbling in God's Own
State of Abia. The people had been pushed to the wall and they could no more
bear the suffocating grip of one man and his mother on the entire state.
Last week, the diminutive and unassuming Governor, Theodore Orji, a groomed
stooge of the dynasty, and a courtier at Kalu's palace, shook off the
shackles of his servitude and embraced freedom and liberty. For once, the
governor heeded the repeated advice of this writer and took hold of power.
In the well-known dramatic and confrontational ways of revolutions, Orji
deserted the emperor's party, abandoned the Peoples Progressive Alliance
(PPA), an euphemism for Kalu dynasty, and by that courageous action, rescued
Abia from the stranglehold of a family dynasty.*
*As you read this piece, the wind of revolution is blowing through Abia with
all former structures, statutes and vestiges of PPA being dismantled and all
the courtiers decamping to the All Peoples Grand Alliance (APGA). The king
has been demystified and Kalu is today an emperor without an empire. The
mother's formidable political movement, The Reality Organization, will only
be remembered in folklores and legends. Igbere, Kalu's hometown will cease,
at lease for now, from being the Mecca for political jobbers, same for Nweke
Street in Aba, where honourable men go to humble themselves by openly
peeling melon as way of demonstrating loyalty to the great matriarch of the
Kalu Dynasty. There is a time for everything on earth. The Kalu Dynasty was
great and powerful while it lasted. Just like Louis xiv boasted: "L'tate
C'mon". Kalu was Abia and Abia was Kalu, but this regime has come, though
sadly, to an inglorious end.*
*For the records, the governorship tenure of Theodore Orji actually started
on Monday, June 28, 2010. The day he had the courage to break loose from the
shackles of Kalu Dynasty, and told the world he was no longer a bondman, but
determined to be the master of his own fate. In the last three years, by the
self-serving creed of a surreptitious conspiracy upon which Orji was
freighted from prison to power, Kalu and the mother have been ruling Abia by
proxy. Orji has had to point to this parallel power as part of his alibi for
nonperformance. As a matter of necessity, the revolution is coming in the
nick of time, and essentially when Orji himself has lost control of the ship
of state. From the jubilation on the streets of Abia, it is obvious that the
greatest thing Orji has achieved as a Governor is the rescuing of Abia from
the captivity of the Kalu Dynasty.*
*Like historians ask of the French revolution, one may ask: why was the
discontent against the dynasty so vehement that seventeen of the twenty four
House of Assembly members and the only PPA senator, Uche Chukwumereije,
joined the Governor to bid the PPA goodbye? Why are the party chairmen and
ward chairmen in all local councils abandoning the PPA for the Governor's
new party? Some may argue that their decision is persuaded by the trappings
of the incumbency power. But, there is more, in my view , to the mass
hysteria than the protective shelters of incumbency. It is a coincidence of
history and human anthropology that there comes a time when men rise up
prepared to water the tree of revolution with their own blood just to
reverse the course of their lives. This, it does seem, is the true case of
the drama in God's Own State.*
*The jubilation in Abia is not because Orji is a messiah, not at all. It is
not a eulogy for credible leadership, neither is it a song of victory over
the climate of despair and despondency. In fact, Orji is believed to be a
burden bearer of unclean hands, a willing soul for a nasty Faustian bargain,
a deadened conscience in the reckoning of the Edinburgh Ethicist, William
Barclay, where evil and good cohabit comfortably. He is said to be a man
ruled by an inordinate ambition, who, in desperation for power was ready,
like Faust, to exchange his soul with the devil. Thus, the people are not
living in the illusion that their days of woes are over. But, they are happy
that Abia has been snatched from the macho-grip of one man and his mother.
They have long expected liberation, and by all intent and purposes, this is
a new beginning, a new society and a new world order with better promises
than the old Kalu Dynasty.*
*At the onset of his rule in 1999, Kalu had boasted to this writer that the
structures he put in place would rule Abia for at least fifteen years. He
has almost achieved it. He had completed a two-term of eight years and was
running a third term by proxy until Orji cut off the chain of a satanic
spell tying him to the dynasty, and making him a puppet to Kalu and his
mother. Indeed, the events of last week is essentially a mental and
spiritual emancipation for Orji, and more importantly a liberation for the
people of Abia. Having gained self-mastery, Orji can now assert himself in
power and take responsibility for the destiny of the state without looking
for scape-goats, and unnecessary alibi for his nonperformance.*
*There is also a far more critical responsibility for him, and that is to be
the albatross to sound the death knell of godfatherism in Abia politics.
Orji should bury this monster that has pulled back the hand of progress in
Abia. He should use the remaining nine months to validate his claim that he
was held back by the iron hand of the dynasty. This is simple. He could
start by reviving the abandoned projects, and the abandoned roads like the
Aba- Obikabia road which has become a deathtrap.*
*Indeed, posterity will read of the dynasty that ruled Abia from 1999 to
2010. The lessons will be there to learn. But, just like the Germans ask
today about Hitler, the people will pose the question: how did society allow
an unguided Aba boy, whose life was a spiral ring of controversies, to
emerge in power and cause such havoc?*
**
*Abia: The fall of a dynasty (2) *
Godwin Adindu
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*? Continued from last Thursday *
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*The Last Days of the Dynasty *
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*In the last three years, and before the fall of the Kalu Dyn
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