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Summary
Three women were rescued by the Imo State Police Command's Anti-Kidnapping Unit after being kidnapped by gunmen in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area.
Four survivors who were victims of kidnap have been rescued by Imo State Police Command’s Anti Kidnapping Unit on Saturday.
The survivors in the names of Ms Carolyn Didia, Ms Ego Odu, Ms Apollonia Ezekwe, and Mr Godwin Ezekwe, shared they boarded the same vehicle and were attacked and kidnapped on the Obosima-Ohoba road in the Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of the state on Friday.
According to the survivors, they were ambushed by gunmen while travelling to Owerri from their community in Awarra for a wedding. They explained further that the kidnappers shot at their vehicle, forcing them to stop.
The kidnappers matched the driver after he attempted to escape. Punch spoke to one correspondent on Sunday, Godwin, a Lagos-based computer system merchant, said, the gunmen first shot their vehicle from behind before another set ambushed them some metres ahead of them.
“I was on my way to Owerri on Friday evening at about 6 pm in a commercial vehicle with five other passengers for my niece’s wedding. When we were between Ohoba and Obosima, I saw some gunmen who started shooting at the back of our vehicle. As we drove fast ahead, we encountered another set in front and we had to stop. Our driver ran away after stopping the vehicle, but they pursued him, caught him and macheted him. We were six and they allowed two elderly women among us to go and took the remaining four of us into the bush which looked like the Sambisa forest. We trekked from about 6 pm till 3 am.
“We got to a spot and were asked to stay there. That was how they started to beat us. They asked us to call our relatives and tell them where we were and that they should send N150m. After a while, we all stayed on the spot and by 7 am, we started walking again till 12am on Saturday. The next place we got to, they discovered that people were passing there so we stopped again and they slept off in the process.”
It was then that a hunter saw us and went back to the community to inform others.” Ms Ego Odu, on her part, said the gunmen forced them out of the vehicle and started to beat the four of them.
Ms Apollonia Ezekwe explained how the kidnappers shot at the hunters that came to their rescue, but eventually, the hunters rescued her and the other women.
She said, “I was heading to my sister’s wedding in Owerri to cook for her. The moment they ambushed our vehicle, they forced us out of the vehicle and started to beat us. I was not familiar with the area they took us to. We just kept walking till this morning (Saturday) until we were rescued.”
Another survivor Ms Carolyn Didia, lamented that they were forced to walk long distances saying, “A tricycle was ahead of us when the incident happened but they allowed the tricycle to drive a bit far from us when five gunmen came out of the bush. They made us walk long distances in the bush as they started taking us from one point to another. That was how we moved till morning.”
The Imo State Police Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Unit in a statement on Saturday said it rescued the survivors after a gunfight with the kidnappers, which resulted in the death of two suspects.
