Police rescue 81-year-old monarch from kidnappers in Calabar
• Gunmen abduct mother-in-law of Katsina-based business mogul, Mangal
The Cross River State Police Command has rescued an 81-year-old monarch, Muri Bassey Iyamba, from kidnappers.
Iyamba was whisked away from his house at Ambo by Idang in Calabar South Local Government area on Monday night.
The intervention by the police and the youth of the community led to his rescue around 4:00a.m. yesterday.
Narrating his ordeal to newsmen at the Diamond Police Station headquarters, Iyamba said: “Three men entered my compound pretending to be customers who came to buy chicken because we run a poultry, not knowing they came to kidnap me. Although I got information that some people wanted to kidnap me a month ago, I restricted my movement, not knowing I was still a target.
“One of them entered my sitting room and started harassing me. He molested my wife and my children while asking me to bring out money. I told him I had no money in the house. They dragged me, hitting my head and face before whisking me away. They then took me to the creeks, where I trekked for more than a mile before we arrived at our destination taking me from one camp to another.
“I must commend the police and the youths of my community, for they did a lot of work to ensure my captors did not succeed in taking me across the water into the other side of the creek. I am most grateful because God used them to save my life.
“I am an 81-year-old man. Those men would have killed me inside the creek were it not for the timely intervention of the police because they escaped when they discovered that the police were on their trail and were closing in on them. They left me alone in the creek. It was when I started shouting that I realized no one was with me. I was alone until the time the police came and rescued me this early morning (yesterday).”
The Commissioner of Police, Mr Sikiru Akande, said the incident had given the police a platform to prove that they could react promptly and swiftly to emergencies.
“We are sending a message to hoodlums and all criminals alike who want to test our strength or will that we are not going to relent until they are completely flushed out of the state.
“I want to thank the youths of the community, Puff Adder, Operation Akpakwu, the Efut Division, and most especially the Marine Police Unit men and officers who took the risk of securing the waterways, ensuring the hoodlums did not escape through the waterways with their victim.”
MEANWHILE, gunmen, in the early hours of yesterday, stormed Matazu Local Government Area in Katsina State and kidnapped Hajiya Rabi, the mother-in-law of renowned business mogul, Alhaji Dahiru Barau Mangal.
According to a family source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in Kano, the hoodlums arrived in the town around 1:00a.m. and went straight to the matrimonial home of Hajiya Rabi, where they whisked her away to an unknown destination.
According to the source, the gunmen had, before then, abducted the father-in-law of her son, one Buhari Muntari in Katsina town.
When contacted, the husband of the victim, Alhaji Muntari Masanawa, confirmed the incident to newsmen. Muntari, who is the traditional title holder of ‘Sarkin Yaki’ in Matazu, said the hoodlums who arrived at his house around 1:30a.m. woke his wife up and took her away on a motorcycle.
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