THE kidnap of the wife of Deputy Leader, Ebonyi State House of Assembly, Mrs. Winifred Ogbu last Friday evening along Grace court Hotel, Abakaliki, by a six-member gang which operated with motorcycles had led to the enactment of a new policy on kidnapping by the Ebonyi State government. The policy states that any building where kidnapped victims are kept with the knowledge of the owner, the structure will be demolished; and that if the owner of a building finds out that his residence was being used to keep kidnap victims and fails to report it to security agents, the building will also be demolished.
It would be recalled that Mrs Ogbu was taken away by the suspected kidnappers who held her hostage in the three- bedroom mud house located in an isolated part of Umezabi community, until she was rescued by men of the Nigeria Police Force following a tip-off. The ensuing gun battle left one of the suspected kidnappers dead.
The state government on Tuesday demolished the three-bed room apartment in Umezabi community, Ngbo, in Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the State, following reports that it was used as a hideout for keeping victims of kidnapping.
State Commissioner for Works and Transport, Mr Chukwuma Nwandugo, who supervised the demolition carried out by a team of policemen from Ebonyi State Police Command, said the exercise was a new policy of the state government meant to send a warning to criminal elements in the state and their accomplices.
“The State government is out to stamp out incidences of kidnapping in all the LGAs in the state. This new policy will help to checkmate the activities of kidnappers and their accomplices; no building where kidnapped victims are kept in this state will be allowed to remain. If after investigation and it was discovered that the house of any person is being used to house kidnappers and their victims, that house will be razed down,” he warned.
Also, the Acting Commissioner of Police in the State, DCP Istifenus Shetima, noted that such policy would serve as a deterrent to other criminals who might want to engage in heinous crimes. He added that Onicha, Ohaukwu, Afikpo South and Ezza North local government areas had been identified by the Command as locations where kidnapping was prevalent in the state.
In his remarks, the Command’s spokesman, DSP Sylvester Igbo, said the police had commenced investigation to ascertain the true owner or owners of the building that was demolished by the state government as nobody was found inside the building when the team arrived Umezabi community.
“Last Saturday around 1pm, a team of policemen from Ebonyi State Command which was trying to locate the area the woman was kept eventually stumbled on the place through the assistance of the people of the area; the woman was rescued unhurt and no ransom was paid.
“When the information reached the State government, it directed the Commissioner for Works to go to the area with a bulldozer and demolish the house where the woman was kept. It was that order that the Commissioner of Works executed. He went with a team from the government house and eventually we were directed to provide security to enable them do the work.
“The three-bed mud house was not plastered. It was empty when we got there and nothing reasonable was found in it as the kidnappers had left the scene before we arrived. We are looking for the Village Head of the area to identify the owner of that house,” DSP Igbo said.
Indigenes of the community who spoke with Vanguard Metro, VM, shortly after the demolition applauded the state government for the action and promised to continue to volunteer information that would improve security in the state.
VM learnt that the Police also recovered the Toyota highlander jeep belonging to Mrs Ogbu, wife of the Deputy Leader of the State House of Assembly.
In a related development, Igbo added that the state Police Command had also discovered a community in the state where kidnap activities of different kinds usually take place without the knowledge of security agents over the years.
Speaking with VM, DSP Igbo disclosed that most kidnap incidents in the state are usually traced to Abomege community in Onicha Local Government Area of the state, adding that the trend had given a bad reputation to the people of the area.
According to him, the police had commenced a manhunt for the kingpin in charge of coordinating incidences of kidnap in the state, even as he gave the name of the suspect as one Emeka Nwafor alias Oshimiiri, a native doctor by profession.
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