Six in police net for allegedly abducting town crier

SIX middle-aged men believed to political thugs are currently cooling their heels at the Anti-Kidnapping Cell of Ebonyi State Police Command Headquarters for allegedly kidnapping and torturing a local town crier, Ogbonnaya Okoro (alias Big Boy).

The victim, who is a well-known town crier, was abducted in Okposi-Okwu community in Ohaozara Local Council of the state two days ago.

The six apprehended abductors are said to belong a gang of 10 that has been terrorising communities in Ohaozara and its environs.

Narrating his ordeal in the hands of the hoodlums to The Guardian at the police headquarters in Abakaliki, Mr. Ogbonnaya Okoro, said his abductors came to his home in the late hours of Tuesday and started beating with machetes and clubs before dragging him into a waiting mini-bus.

He said that as soon as he was dragged into the mini-bus, which bore the inscription of one of the governorship candidates in the forthcoming Governorship and State House of Assembly elections, the men blindfolded him with a red cloth, which made it impossible for him to know where he was being taken.

His words: “After travelling some distance, they brought me out and started beating me. When they stopped, they asked me how much I was paid to do an announcement by another political party, saying that they would kill me if I didn’t comply with what they would ask me to do.”

The town crier further disclosed that the hoodlums brought him to the community market square and directed him to start beating the gong and telling the people that he sold his community for N5,000 and that the people should vote for the candidate of a particular party.

“While I was doing the announcement the men continued to hit me at the back with machetes and clubs,” Okoro added, saying that the beating continued until the men of Afikpo Zonal Police Command came and rescued him.

Some of the weapons found in the possession of the hoodlums included various sizes of machetes and metal axes.

When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer, Chris Anyanwu, (ASP) explained that since the matter was under the Anti-kidnapping Department of the Command, the report was yet to get to his office, assuring that he would brief the press as soon as the investigations have been wrapped up.

It would be recalled that prior to the presidential and National Assembly elections, nine people were abducted in the same Local Council by young men operating under the code name “internal security.”