Alexander Ugwu, a kidnapping victim, shared his frightening story of being abducted while traveling in Benue State. He revealed that the kidnappers treated him differently because he’s from the Southeast.
Ugwu explained how kidnappers asked for a huge ransom of 10 million naira from him, saying people from the Southeast are seen as rich. This demand was much higher than what they asked from others.
He said, “Before my phone went off, the first relation that I could speak to over the phone was my cousin, Elias Ugwu, whose father is my father’s elder brother. I called him and told him the kidnappers were requesting N10 million because, according to them, once an individual is from the Eastern part of the country, he or she must be wealthy.
“I explained to them that I didn’t have money. They countered, saying if I didn’t have money, my relatives had.
“Meanwhile, they collected a ransom of N130,000 from the driver’s family. Also, they collected N200,000 as ransom from the family of a first-year student at Kogi State University, KSU, who is from Ogugu, in Kogi State.”
Ugwu said that he was shocked by the amount of money that the student and driver were asked to pay, and he tried to ask the kidnappers why his case was different.
The kidnappers later reduced the money to N4 million. But tragedy happened when his cousin came to deliver the ransom to secure his release.
His cousin, Elias Ugwu, an Enugu-based lawyer went with his friend to rescue him. They had succeeded in doing so, but their joy was cut short when a team of police officers who were on the trail of bandits that had earlier raided some banks and police stations in Anyigba accosted them and opened fire on their vehicle. The legal practitioner who was driving the car was killed in the process.
