The wedding guests who were kidnapped in Nkpunato Nkpologu, Uzo-Uwani Council Area of Enugu State, have criticized the Enugu State Police Command for denying that they were actually kidnapped by gunmen.
According to SaharaReporters, one of the victims, who identified himself as Ikenna Diugwu, said on Saturday that his family paid N2 million ransom to his captors to secure their release.
Narrating the unfortunate incident, Diugwu said that they were in a bus going to a traditional wedding ceremony at Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State on December 27, 2023, when their vehicle was attacked and they were abducted.
He said that they spent three days in the bush before they were released by the kidnappers, regretting that the police made no attempt to rescue them “instead the Commissioner shamefully came out to deny our abduction” to give the impression that Enugu State is the safest place to be in Nigeria when in actual sense Enugu was under siege of kidnapping.
On their ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers, he said that their hands were tied to the back and they were starved for three days, adding that they were taken from one location to the other in the bush.
“We were in a bus which was conveying us to a traditional wedding ceremony at Udi Local Government Area of Enugu State on December 27, 2023, when we were abducted at Nkpunato Nkpologu, Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of Enugu State by suspected Fulani herdsmen.
“Seven of us were kidnapped and taken into the bush while others escaped. In the bush, they tied our hands to the back and hit us with matchets. We didn’t eat for three days. They were taking us from one location to the other in the bush.
“From the intonation of the kidnappers, they were Fulani herdsmen carrying AK-49 assault rifles. We paid N2 million ransom before they released us,” he said.
The Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Kanayo Uzuegbu had in a statement issued on Tuesday, January 16, through the command’s spokesperson, Daniel Ndukwe, denied that some wedding guests were abducted in Uzo-Uwani Local Government Area of the state.
He, however, described some media reports as “reckless, misleading, inaccurate, fictitious, and sensational.”