ABDUCTED Human Rights Lawyer, Mike Ozekhome, who was released Thursday by his abductors, said the kidnappers have several networks, units and cells across the nation.
Narrating his ordeal in the hands of his kidnappers at his residence in Igando, Alimosho Local Council of Lagos State after his release on Thursday, the renowned lawyer said the abductors took him and his driver to an uncompleted building in the bush where a colony of mosquitoes descended and fed on him and other hostages like barbecue in the camp.
In the course of that, he said he took ill and was promptly attended to by the kidnappers’ doctor who, after examining him, gave him injections and intravenous fluids as part of his treatment for malaria and typhoid fever.
According to Ozekhome, from the moment of his abduction on August 23 at about 3:00pm near Benin City, he and 12 other victims were blindfolded by the gang in the camp.
He further said any time they wanted to speak to their abductors, they must face the ground, as looking at them (kidnappers) could hand the offender instant death sentence.
His words: “Every 24 hours of the day, we had death sentence hanging on our head. When any of the kidnappers wanted to speak to us, we must face the wall or the ground.
He added: “They treated me gently because they said they have discovered I’m on the side of the masses that I have been fighting for the masses”. Narrating his ordeal further, he said he was captured close to Benin on his way to his home-town and was further driven on a rough road for about four hours to a jungle far removed from civilisation.
He said he and his driver were blindfolded with several masked men holding sophisticated guns to threaten them while the kidnappers engaged in series of gun shots with policemen shortly after they were kidnapped.
He said: “I heard them say we’ve killed some of the policemen, tomorrow they will say in the newspapers that they have killed some of us.”
Ozhekome explained that his psychological and physical trauma were compounded when his son, Barrister Ilugbekhai and one of his juniors in chambers, Barrister Dominic Ezerioha were lured and eventually detained with him in the camp.
He described his abductors as highly organised and well educated, which according to him, made it difficult for security operatives to track them down.
In his words: “My abductors vow that in 2015, they will move against the politicians who they accused of being in the habit of using and dumping them.”
He, however, disclosed that the only solution is for the Federal Government to extend the Amnesty Programme given to Niger-Delta militants to all kidnappers.
He said: “Even when making phone calls to the families of the victims, they travel across four or five states so that where they make the calls is different from where their victims were kept.”
He also said the kidnappers discussed national issues with high intellect.
His words: “These are graduates of various discipline I believe. They understand Philosophy, History, and Political Science and, as I said, they have their medical team. One of them said he had graduated for six years without a job and they argued that only one per cent of Nigerians have fraudulently cornered the nation’s wealth so they raise argument to justify their actions.
“When I asked them what is the way out, they requested that the Federal Government should also grant them amnesty and that they are ready to lay down their arms if they are given amnesty just like the Niger Delta militants.”
“They said they are ready to come out of the jungle to remove their masks and join the round table talk if there is assurance that they will not be arrested by the government,” he said.
According to him, the kidnappers have several networks, units and cells across the nation. “For example, they mentioned several notable Nigerians who had been kidnapped in the past in the north, east and west, which they claimed were through their network.”
Contrary to the general believe that the kidnappers usually conduct background information about their victims, Ozekhome said his abductors told him that they just operate randomly and that they don’t profile anybody before they are captured.
“For example, they said they do not know me. They searched through my pocket. They collected everything including my card. So when they asked for my name and I told them, they said, “yes it is true.”
Ozekhome urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on insecurity.
According to him, a situation where none of us is safe on the road, in the air, on the water, in the day- time or the night, is a serious and monumental problem and we cannot continue to fold our hands.
He linked the problem of insecurity fundamentally to the massive youth unemployment in the country, which he described as complex and gargantuan.
Consequently, he called on the government to declare state of emergency on youth unemployment as any further delay may spell doom for the nation.
He described youth unemployment as the father of Book Haram, the militants, kidnappers and robbers.
The Senior Advocate, as part of solution to the problem, also called on the National Assembly to immediately amend the constitution to pave way for the establishment of state police.
He added: “The argument against state police can no longer be justified in the face of grim security situation in the country .We should go through federalism as we had before the January 15, 1966 coup. In United States, which is a true federal system, they have the FBI, the state police, and the city police. In fact, higher institutions there have their campus policing”.
He argued that the Nigerian nation could no longer pretend to be a united nation because Nigerians owe their allegiance to their various ethnic tribes first.
“For example, the kidnappers asked me whether I’m aware of the prediction that Nigeria will break up before 2015 and I said yes. They said the break up would be in smaller units as each armed gangsters control its territory across the country. I now realize that this is a serious matter because I never though along that line before. Now is the time for us to organise a national talk shop to re-tool the nation and redesign the fabric of our co-existence, ” he said.
In tears, Ozekhome gave thanks to the Almighty and vowed to re-dedicate his life to serving God and humanity.
Giving clues to his weight loss, he said they were fed only once daily throughout their stay in the camp.
On the ransom paid before their release was secured, Ozekhome said he was not aware of how much or who paid what, and later said proverbially that, “a hunter does not fully disclose the trouble that he went through in the jungle.”
Guardian Nigeria
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