Feb. 1, 2024

An Imo-based journalist, Mr. Reginald Mbajunwa, has narrated how his 17-year-old son, Nzubechi, was kidnapped by hoodlums on his way to Church for a crossover night on Wednesday, January 31.

Mbajunwa, the Director of News at the Imo Broadcasting Corporation, told newsmen on Thursday in Owerri that he received a telephone call from his son’s abductors demanding N5 million ransom for his release.

He said: “They threatened to sacrifice my son, if I failed to pay the ransom before 11am today, being Thursday.

“He had boarded a commercial motorcycle, otherwise called Okada, at Avu to Obinze, near Owerri, around 6.38pm on Wednesday for a night prayer session.

“In less than four minutes ride, the Okada fell down with both the operator and himself.

“And his cohorts, armed with AK47 and machetes, came out from the bush and picked my son into the forest.

“They were taking him into Nekede bush where they kill people and harvest their organs, if their relations don’t pay the ransom on time.

“I begged them not to kill him that I will look for the money, but God manifested his powers in a mysterious way.”

Mbajunwa said his son mysteriously found courage and fought the armed kidnappers, over powered them and tore their shirts, before escaping from the den.

He said the boy later took shelter at Mangero Water Company, where a security man on duty sheltered him.

“My son gave him my wife’s number and he informed my wife that my son is now with him.

“My wife called me and I quickly mobilised Obinze Vigilante, who accompanied me to the company, where I reunited with my son,” he said.

Mbajunwa attributed his son’s miraculous escape to the divine intervention of God.

According to him, members of his Church, who were informed about the incident, immediately began to pray for his release.

He said his son, who escaped from his alleged attackers at about 11pm, sustained machete injury but was stable and in good health condition.

Bushes around Avu Community, Nekede, Ihiagwa, Obinze and other surrounding communities have become safe haven and den for kidnappers and other violent criminals.

Confirming the incident, the Imo Police Public Relations Officer, ASP Henry Okoye, said the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Aboki Danjuma, and his management team would hold a stakeholders’ security meeting with the community and youth leaders of the communities.

“The Police will certainly succeed and win the fight against criminality in the state, if we encourage the general public to support the police with actionable intelligence and information,” Okoye said. (NAN)