Abia APC Chairman regains freedom

Eniola Olayemi

Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Abia State, Donatus Nwankpa, has recounted his ordeal in the hands of his abductors and blamed the Nigerian police for his abduction.

The APC chairman, who was released on Thursday, added that the policemen who witnessed the incident did nothing to stop his abduction.

Nwankpa said the kidnappers accosted his car about 30 meters away from a police checkpoint at the Arungwa Junction on Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway.

“The police were watching and did not intervene, while we were attacked by the hoodlums,” he said.

The Premier News reports that Nwankpa was kidnapped while on his way to Aba from Umuahia around 11 pm on Monday, ahead of Tuesday’s visit of President Muhammadu Buhari for his presidential rally.

He told newsmen in his residence in Umuahia on Friday, that he was released at about 9 pm on Thursday and taken to the border between Abia and Rivers states.

Nwankpa said that after they were kidnapped, he pleaded with the gunmen to release one of his aides, who had a major operation recently and was still recuperating.

He said that they heeded his plea and dropped off the man but drove him away to a deep forest in Rivers.

Nwankpa said that it took the kidnappers about 48 hours before they could open up communication and agree to negotiate with his people.

The APC chairman said that although the Department of State Services (DSS) was able to locate their location in the forest, he admonished them not to take any action.

“When you are kidnapped, you are between life and death. So I told the DSS that nobody should attack after they located the place I was kept,” he said.

He said that his fear was that death could come from the kidnappers or during a gun battle between the hoodlums and security agents.

The APC chairman dismissed as “unfounded” the rumor that he was trailed by his abductors after he had withdrawn N50 million from the bank, describing it as “political blackmail.”

He said that he had only N250, 000 when he was attacked and blamed the incident on the state of insecurity in the state.

Nwankpa expressed joy that he was not hurt by his abductors but could not disclose whether a ransom was paid before he was let off the hook.