ATTEMPTS TO MURDER ME, TOOCHUKWU IGWEZE, AND MY FAMILY AND OUR SUBSEQUENT KIDNAPPING ON 22/12/2020 AT ABOUT 6 PM WEST AFRICAN TIME (17:00 GM)

Late in the morning of 22/12/2020, I drove my car through Igbariam Juntion –Ezinkwo Okuzu – Ukwulu – Nawgu – Enugu Agidi – Amawbia bypass with my wife and daughter to, Awka the capital of Anambra State. On our way back to Nteje early in the evening of the same 22/12/2021 we were returning through the same route.

As we were descending a valley at an outskirts of Enugu Agidi along Enugu Agidi – Nawgwu bypass at about 6 pm, my wife drew my attention to a man in our front at the left side of the road. I looked at the man. He appeared short and wore black clothes. I was wondering whether he was a policeman. The clothes he wore, though black, was not Nigerian police uniform. He was about 250 meters away from us and was moving very slowly towards us. I kept driving down the valley. As we got closer to the man, the road was worse as it contained more potholes. Due to the potholes, I reduced the speed of the car. At this time, the car was very close to the middle of the valley and about 120 meters away from the man. Immediately thereafter, I heard a gunshot from front of the car and around the place the man was.

I applied brake so that I could stop the car, reverse to a safe distance and turn, and escape the danger.  As the vehicle slowed down further, I heard another gunshot from our back. At this time, I had passed the middle of the valley. As I started reversing the car, more gunshots sounded from our back, right and close to the car, and from left and very close to the car. The gun shot from my left hand side was very loud and deafening. As I was reversing, the short man in black clothes in our front was racing quickly towards the car. My attention was divided between the man and my rear view. Because part of the road across the valley was damaged and replete with potholes, the vehicle skewed and shook repeatedly as I was hastily reversing it.

As the car zigzagged, I repeatedly steered it to even remain within the road. At a point, as I was speedily reversing, the vehicle was at the edge of the road but before I could maneuver it to keep racing along the road and due to the speed at which I was reversing and the tension, the car veered off the left hand side of the road into a nearby marsh, and all the gunshots stopped. Everywhere became silent. As the vehicle was moving down the marsh and before I could apply brake, back of the car hit a hard object very close to a bamboo which stood about 4 meters off the left hand side of the road if one is coming from Enugu Agidi. The car stopped.

I cannot recollect whether I stopped the car engine. “Run!”, “Run!!”, my wife urged me. I also urged her to hastily leave the car with the baby.

I dashed out of the car. Also, my wife ran out of the car with our baby and hid nearby. I bent down very well while running away.

After I ran to a distance of about 6 meters away from the car in southwesterly direction in the left hand side of the road, I heard faint sounds of mixture of “peto”, crasha, “peto”, “crasha”, “peto” sounds very close to me and at the same time very loud gunshots from different directions. As I heard the non – gunshot sounds in my right hand side direction, I looked in the direction of the sounds but did not see anybody. At that moment, the place I was, I observed, was a marshy farmland containing well – spaced mounds of soil. No trees. Only short grasses, including few, short very widely spaced southern gamber grasses (andropogun gianus).

Given the nature of the surrounding habitat, it was not possible that somebody could run or walk very close to the point I was during my running without me seeing him. I swerved and ran West south yet I simultaneously heard the same combination of a mixture of faint sounds of peto”, “crasha”, “peto”, “crasha”, “peto” in my front and very close to me and also very loud gunshots from multiple directions close by. I looked but did not see anybody in the direction of the non – gunshot sounds.

As I swerved and was running Southeast towards my left hand side, I heard the same mixture of faint sounds of peto”, “crasha”, “peto”, “crasha”, “peto” in my left hand side direction and very close to me and also gunshots close by. I looked in the direction of the sounds but did not see anybody. I stopped running, dived, crawled and lay on the ground. As soon as I lay on the ground, the mixture of faint sounds of peto”, “crasha”, “peto”, “crasha”, “peto” and also the gunshots stopped. Everywhere became silent again.

After about 2 minutes of my lying down, I sensed that somebody had gotten close to our car. Soon thereafter, I saw a short man in black dress around the left back of our car.  The same man in black clothing came, from direction of my car, close to where I took cover. He did not see me. Shortly thereafter, I heard a man’s voice from around right back direction of the car. It was in Hausa language. He conversed briefly with him in Hausa.

After their conversation, the man in black cloth moved in the direction of the place I was lying on the ground, looked around and saw me and pointed the muzzle of a Kalashnikov Assault Rifle with double magazine he was wielding towards me and yelled, “get up!” He was dark, slim, slightly below average in height and was not wearing mask. The same man we saw for the first time. He was also carrying a small gray or dark bag containing light iron objects that chuckled as he adjusted the bag. My guess was that the bag contained extra rifle magazines loaded with ammunition.

Not only did I quickly get up, I raised my two hands above my head while saying, “ba wahala!”, “ba wahala”, “no problem”, “I will cooperate, no problem, “ba wahala”. Then a slim fair complexioned man armed also with a Kalashnikov Assault Rifle showed up in the scene. Shortly thereafter, an armed, moderately tall, slim, dark man appeared in the scene and then the fourth armed man also appeared. Each of them was armed with Kalashnikov Assault Rifle. The same armed attacker in black clothes that we saw first forced his hands into my pockets and collected all the money I had on me. He asked me repeatedly, “where your phone“? In the car”, I responded.

Some of them searched my car for my mobile phone. They got my wife’s mobile phone. All the attackers conversed in Hausa. They were slim and lanky. Their ascents and dressing were Fulani.

My wife came out with the baby from where she had hidden nearby. As the armed attackers saw her with the baby, one of the attackers shouted at her, “move” while pointing his hand in westerly direction to which direction they had shortly commanded me to go and to which I had just started moving. They took us in West north direction. My wife was weeping. She was also baffled. Our baby cried and one of them who was slightly fair in complexion slapped her in the mouth. He wore gray and milk colour shirt. He seemed hot tempered and aggressive.

At a point, I took away the baby from my wife to assist her because she fell down severally and was sobbing as we were being led across a slightly bushy farmland. Shortly thereafter, the armed attacker that wore gray and milk colour dress ordered me to return the baby to my wife and I complied.

As four of the attackers were taking us away from the scene of the attack, two slim, moderately tall men each of whom was armed with Kalashnikov Assault Rifle turned up but did not stay long and left in the direction of the scene of our kidnapping towards the Enugu – Agidi Nawgu bypass. One of the attackers carried sheathed sword in addition to his riffle. I think one of them also had a short club of about 1 meter in length in addition to his rifle. The stick was shorter than the usual long stick the Fulanis use in guiding their cattle during cattle grazing but appeared wider in diameter.

As we were moving with the armed men into the bush, my wife, out of trepidation, asked them, “are you going to kill us”, to which they did not respond.

We got to a small, narrow creek from which one of the armed men drank water using his right bare hand while holding his rifle with his left hand after which the armed me led us across the creek. It was ankle – deep and about 3 and a half feet wide, though the creek course was about 9 feet wide. After walking further in the opposite direction of the creek, the armed men ordered us to sit on a slightly bushy ridge wherein cassavas were recently harvested. We sat down.

“Na your wife you carry abi na person wife”?, the aggressive, slightly yellow armed man with milk colour dress asked me. “Na my wife”, I responded.

The attackers removed my shirt and singlet. They firmly tied my hands with my shirt. I got discomfited and said loudly, “our leaders in Nigeria are messing up. If our leaders are governing us well, all these things will not be happening. Our leaders only care about themselves and their children. Nigeria has enough money to go round to everybody”. The attacker that slapped our baby, said to me, “are you sure you are not one of them”.

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In response, I said: “I am not one of them. As a lawyer, I have assisted several poor persons who were in police stations and prisons and got them released. I did not charge them any money. I did this because of their conditions and to assist them.”  After about 15 minutes, one of the attackers, the aggressive one, knelt very close to me and said, “you don enter, na you go do our Christmas”. I did not respond to that in any manner.

My wife was carrying the baby who cried occasionally. We lulled her to placate her and discourage her from crying. My wife was weeping and pleading with the armed men not to kill us, assuring them that we would transfer all our money to them “now” “now”. It was relatively dark this time. Three attackers, each of whom was still wielding his rifle, surrounded us at a distance of about 8, 10 and 14 meters respectively in a triangular form. One of the attackers, the first one I saw when I ran into them, sat very close to me, and said:

“Somebody send us. The person tell us say you no dey agree at all.

As I see you, you no be the kind person way the person say you be.

You na person way no want any trouble”. I kept quiet.

Also, the following conversation occurred between me and him:

Kidnapper:  “Waiting be your work”?

My wife:      “A business man”

Myself:      “I am a lawyer”.

Kidnapper:“When they cal you to bar”.

Myself:  “After I was called to bar, I went back to school and read again. I read again so that I could earn another certificate. I went to Awka to collect the certificate I earned. With the certificate, I can get a job, like lecturing in a university. Doing such another job, such as lecturing and also practicing as a lawyer means I will be getting money from two sources. The money I get from the two work will be bigger than the money I get now from my present work as a lawyer. I have married and my expenses increased forcing me to be looking for a second job.

It takes a long time for lawyers to make good money in our practice. The lawyer must work hard and after some time and the lawyer becomes well known or become a Senior Advocate, he will be getting big money.

Some lawyers, after just 2 or three years of their practice, can make very big money when they take part in sale of a very costly property or do a big work that can give them big money. But such opportunity is not common. Such opportunity comes due to luck or connection.

I never get such opportunity to make big money. I have the certificate but I have not gotten the second work. If my father is a governor or senator, I would have since gotten the second job. I am just managing”.   “Tawai” in my right cheek, one of them, the same attacker that slapped our baby in the mouth, who had shifted closer to me and the other armed attacker to whom I was directly responding, slapped me. I kept quiet.

In about 20 minutes we sat down with the armed attackers in the farmland, we heard a gunshot slightly far in the direction of a hilly part of the tarred Enugu Agidi – Nawgwu bypass along which I drove into the armed attackers, followed by another gunshot inside the bushy farmland about 50 meters away from us. Subsequently, we heard several gunshots from two specific directions towards the scene of our kidnapping along the Enugu Agidi – Nawgu bypass.

At a point my wife became very noticeably disturbed, worried and uncomfortable. The short dark attacker that appeared gentle told her, “madam relax, you no see how your husband de relax”.

I encouraged her to relax. She could not. The same short dark one and the aggressive one came very close to me again and the dark one asked of my phone. I told them my phone and even my car key was in the car. I encouraged them to go to my car and fetch it. One of them said he had searched the car but did not see it. I assured him the phone was in the car and that it must have fallen off when the car was shaking as I was reversing the car.

When I told him to go back to the car and searched more carefully, he said apprehensively to me, ‘why you no bring am’. I told him I even left my car key in the car. One of the armed men asked me of quantum of money in my account. I told him very small money was in the account about N25,000 but that I was not with the ATM Card of the particular account. I told him I had an ATM Card on me in my pocket but there was insufficient money in that very account. I assured them that I must raise money for them but that they should just give me small time to do that for them.

While my wife was carrying the baby and as we were sitting down in the ridge in the bush, the baby was relatively quiet. There was a time at at about 8 pm when the baby raised her head from my wife’s bosom, stretched her neck towards me looked steadily at my face, and, secondly, looked closely at my wife’s face and thereafter continued relaxing at my wife’s bosom. I kept telling the attackers that things were very hard throughout the year 2020 but that I could raise reasonable some of money and give them and that they should give me time to raise the money for them.

No sooner had I talked to them in that respect than, a slim, moderately tall dark attacker rushed to me, grabbed my hands, placed them at my back and with a long black rope tied my hands at my back so firmly that after about 15 minutes my shoulders and my hands hardened. I sensed blood was not flowing properly in and out of my hands. I endured. The resulting pains were excruciating. The pains exacerbated as time went on.

I was apprehensive of blood clothing along my blood vessels and health risk of that if clothed blood got to my heart. I pleaded to them to help me by loosening the rope. After pleading for about 10 minutes one of them unfastened the rope. It took me about 25 minutes to move my hands freely and for me to feel relieved of the pains.

One of the attackers asked me how much I would raise for them. I told him I was not sure yet because the people I intended to phone for money to assist me were not wealthy themselves but that they were people I had very good relationship with and that they would, therefore, assist me with money they personally had and that if it turned out they did not have money themselves they would readily borrow money to assist me.

The distance between the place we were kept and the scene of our kidnapping is about 1.5km. After about 4 hours of our captivity, we heard sounds, made by raising base of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, in two different directions around us. The type of sounds Fulanis use in communicating with, or commanding, their cattle. The armed men guarding me responded by making the same sounds. Then two Fulanis came into the bushy farm we were with other armed Fulanis. The three armed attackers that were guarding us dozed off intermittently.

My wife was traumatized. She was sobbing. She said her breath was ceasing and her heart was aching. Shortly thereafter she vomited like twice. I got disturbed. I thought about her current pregnancy. I politely notified the armed attackers that apart from the vomiting, my wife just complained to me that her breath was ceasing and that she could not breathe well and that her heart ached. Also, I mildly drew their attention to her pregnancy and emphasized on the harmfulness of her captivity to the foetus and to her own life and passionately appealed to them to release her and the baby. I told them that she could, for instance, have a miscarriage. They refused.

I pleaded further. This was at about 11 pm. They discussed my plea but ruled against me. Subsequently, one of them, dark, slim, slightly below average in height, who seemed to be their leader told me that he was married and that he found no reason to allow the unborn “baby to suffer “ and that he did not know whether the unborn “baby would be a governor”. He told me that my wife and the bay would be released but that if my wife exposed them to police or arrange for their arrest they would kill me. I quickly warned my wife not to involve police or plan for their arrest.

I asked him how my wife could find her way out of the bush. “I go carry am go give security, vigilante. Nothing go happen to ram, no worry. I no de touch person wife”. The confidence with which he said this, his composure, and body language were reassuring and commanded credibility.

There was a time he and one other kidnapper moved away to a distance of about 25 feet from me and my wife and conversed and also appeared to have communicated on phone with somebody. About 30 minutes later, additional three armed attackers came to the place they kept us in the bush.

Shortly thereafter, the attackers asked my wife to get up and leave with some of them and my wife and daughter left with them.

I think only two of the attackers remained with me as my wife was being freed. Not very long from the time they led my wife with my daughter away, one attacker returned to the place I was being soly held by the attackers. Subsequently, another two of the attackers returned to the place. One of the attackers came very close to me and asked me, “how much money him [his crony] collect from your pocket”, that is, at the scene of the attack. I told him I did not count the money in my pocket and might not be correct if I specified a particular sum but that I thought it might be two N500 notes and one N200 Note if I was to guess.

The same, slim, soft spoken attacker that seemed to be their leader conversed in Hausa with a female and the way they chatted, the female seemed to be his wife.

After keeping me for about one hour, all the six armed attackers commanded me to stand up and leave with them. They directed the direction I trekked with them. After trekking for about 700 meters in North direction, we got to a broad un-tarred road which ran both South and North. Shortly after getting to this road, one of then told me to remove my white singlet. I removed it and he collected it from me. I was wearing only my pair of light blue jean trouser and still bar-footed. My pair of leather slippers must have slipped of my foot as I was running away from my car. While we were trekking inside several pieces of bushy farmland, one of them always led the way, others were at the back while I was in the middle. When we got to the road, all of them deliberately trailed behind me using me as cannon fodder.

I was catching cold but enduring. Soon, about four of the attackers left and walked south along the road and in the direction of the residential area of Enugu Agidi, while two of them led me further north along the road. There was a time we turned rightwards in Northeasterly direction shortly after which we emerged at the same Enugu Agidi – Nawgwu bypass. The distance we covered from the place I was kept with my wife to this part of the bypass was about 1.3km.

After crossing the Enugu – Agidi Nawgwu bypass, one of the two kidnappers led our way and we traversed vast grassy land, several vast pieces of bushy farmland some of which had foot tracks. We got to a very vast land covered with spear grasses (imperata sylindrica) about 3 km Northeast of the point of Enugu Agidi – Nawgwu bybass we crossed the bypass to the East. Topography of the spear grass land was flat but as we trekked further, it became somewhat slant and linked to a narrow road close to a long and very narrow forest.

They led me along the narrow road along which we trekked north for about 600 meters. A small valley was nearby. The valley was in the narrow forest. Air around there was very cool suggesting that a creek was very close by.

One armed man went under a tree at an edge of the valley, while the other was with me along the narrow road close to the valley. The distance between us and the tree was about 18 feet. When he got there, he brought out something in something that appeared as a bag which seemed to be there prior to the time we arrived there. He untied the bag. The bag muffled severally as he was handling it. He severally put some things into the bag and also severally removed some things from the bag. He spent about 9 minutes there.

Meanwhile, I was clearly hearing a sound of liquid pouring and flowing on hard surfaces. My judgment was that creek water was pouring down a step rocky bed. Although the moon was full and shining, numerous trees around the vicinity of our present location obscured the moon light making it impossible for me to see clearly in the direction of the sound. I looked to find out the nature of the terrain from which the sound emanated but could not fathom anything. This was at about 1:30 am on 23/01/2020.

After he was done, he came up where we were and the other armed man went to the same tree and did with the bag under the tree exactly what the other armed man had done, though he spent slightly less time and he was done, and came up where I was with the other armed attacker.

They told me to move North along the same narrow road. I hesitated and told them that I could fall off a cliff. One of them assured me that there was a culvert in my front. I was not convinced. As I was still reluctant to move in the direction I was directed to go, one of them overtook me, led the way and I followed him, while the other armed man followed me behind.

The water was actually running invisibly under the ground though audibly. There must be a culvert.

As we trekked further away from the running water, motor vehicles sped severally along a broad road surface of which I could not yet see. The broad road was about 200 meters away from us. Due to the speed of the vehicles I judged the road as either an express or main road but I was not yet sure which particular express or main road.

The narrow road along which we were trekking led us to a broader road – I think part of it was slightly tarred – which ran northeast and northwest directions. One of the attackers whose clothing was not all that dark left (I think armless) in Northeast direction along the broader road while the other armed attacker ordered me to sit on a heap of rubles. I sat down as he hung around with his riffle.

After about 20 minutes, a vehicle slowly drove close by from Northeast direction along the express or main road. The vehicle stopped about 20 meters away from us. Tall grasses were there. I could, therefore, not see the vehicle well. I heard sound of its engine. Also, I saw very slightly a long bulb along the roof of the car. The long bulb had multiple colours. The vehicle did not move further.

After about 5 minutes, the same armed attacker that left about 30 minutes ago showed up. After about 7 minutes of his arrival, the attackers said to me ”let’s go” and they led me leftwards into the bus in West south direction and we soon got into double lane express road which I quickly realized was the Enugu Onisha Express Road.

One of the attackers was leading, and was still with his rifle, I was in the middle while the other attacker was following me from behind. On getting to the other side of the express road, one attacker led us through a track road. As we trekked away from the express road into the bush, the grasses by the sides of the track road were not dried, they were fresh and grew very closely. Trees there were small but very leafy. The ground was wet. I knew water was very close to the area. After trekking for about 18O meters away from the Enugu – Onisha   Express Road, they ordered me to sit down under shrubs. I sat down.They tied my wrists together very firmly with a tough, long, black rope and sat down with me. During this period, they were not wearing mask. This was about 2 am on 23/12/2020. Also, they tied my ankles together with my shirt and ordered me not to be looking at them and to be facing the opposite direction. I complied

With time, we lay on the ground in the bush. The bush was hilly. We slept together in the bush. Late in the morning of 23/12/2020, one of them went down the hill and fetched drinking water with Coca Cola Fanta plastic bottle. They lay very close to me. They drank the water severally. They asked me whether I would drink water, I told them I was not interested in water. The dark, soft spoken one that appeared to be their leader talked regularly on phone with a female who I then believed was his wife.

I assured them I would raise money for them. As I was explaining to them and assuring them that I was not hiding my money from them, the same attacker that slapped me the previous day slapped me again.

I the afternoon of 23/12/2020, one of the kidnappers said to me, “we no get any food to give you as you no give us money”. Shortly thereafter, I heard the same sounds, made by raising base of the tongue against the roof of the mouth in three different directions around us. The armed kidnappers guarding me responded by making the same sounds. Then three Fulanis entered under a group of small threes where I was with the other armed Fulanis. Shortly thereafter, one of the kidnappers unfastened the black rope with which they tied my wrists together and tied my wrists with silver colour steel chain and padlocked the chain around my wrist and fastened the chain to a small tree. While chaining me, he said to me, “this is our police station, the chain na our han cuf [handcuff]”.

In the afternoon of 23/12/2020, one slightly tall slim kidnapper the same one who had tortured me in the night of 22/12/2020 while we were being held close to the scene of the attack by tying my hands very tightly with rope at my back, unlocked the chains from my wrists and ankles, grabbed my hands forcibly, placed them at my back and tied my hands very tightly in my back. This very kidnapper was taciturn and appeared strict and relatively reserved in nature. Later, their leader said to me, “we no go sleep with you again.”

After about 15 minutes, my hands ceased, back of my shoulder was aching me unbearably.

I started pleaded with them to show mercy to me. They ignored me, and were chatting. After pleading regularly for about 15 minutes, I stopped pleading. With time I rolled on the ground in the bush severally in pains while groaning.

After about 5 minutes, one of them untied the rope. I recovered from the physiological effects of this only after about 1 hour. It was after about 1 hour 20 minutes that they chained me again.

One of them said to me, “we no de use chain before. One person we kidnap, we tie am rope, he run away. If you run away na him be say na you use your hand kill yourself “.

I had examined the situation, their number, number and nature of their weapons, the effective shooting range, possible noisy interference of grasses and shrubs with my escape, possibility of running into some of the armed attackers, my armlessness, trigger effect of my escape on their hunting and shooting reflexes. Also, they had by their conduct convinced me that once I gave them reasonable sum of money, they would free me. Escaping was highly risky and very unwise. I relaxed on the ground in the bush enduring insect bites.

Late in the afternoon of 23/12/2020, their leader conversed on phone with somebody. During conclusion of the conversation, the leader answered to the person on phone in pidgin English that money would be ready in the morning of the next day. I had earlier told them that I would raise money for them in the morning of the next day being 24/12/2020.

Some of the kidnappers left the bush while some remained with me with their rifles. We passed the night in the bush. They smoked cannabis sativa every morning, afternoon and night. Their leader said to me again “after today we no go sleep with you again”. I asked them to allow me to phone some people for money. They brought out my wife’s phone and I made calls with it requesting for money. The leader said to me after being prompted by some of the kidnappers, “be speaking wetin I go de hear”. I made the calls in pidgin English. My wife told me Two Hundred Thousand Naira was ready. I notified them and also told them that more money was being expected.

In the morning of 24/12/2020, they resumed smoking of cannabis sativa. Late in the morning of 24/12/2020, the leader of the kidnappers conversed ,while we were lying on the ground in the bush, severally on phone with some people who haggled over price of cattle. During the conversation, he said to the person, “N300,000; bring N280. Na that one you like? If you want the big one, na him be say you go bring big money, take the other one, N230, N220.” I pleaded to them to assist me with my wife’s mobile phone so that I could prompt some relatives and friends to send money to my family.

They brought out my wife’s mobile phone, switched it on. I phoned my wife, aunty and other people. More money, Hundred Thousand Naira, was ready, I learnt. I notified them and assured them that my parents and wife were awaiting more money which would soon be ready.

Late in the morning of 24/12/2020, one of the kidnappers with the help of my wife’s mobile phone talked with my wife via my mobile phone which was with my family. He asked my wife of the amount of money that was ready. During his conversation with my wife, he said to my wife:

“You say na N300,000 de. Take the money and shop, you de use us de play, we go carry your husband head”.

In response, I urged my wife to raise more money urgently for them and assure them that more money would soon be raised. The leader of the kidnappers admonished me to let the people I phoned for money appreciate the dangers I was facing and “the condition” I was.

I knew more money would soon actually be raised. I kept lying on the ground in the bush. At this time virtually all the kidnappers were in the bush with me. There was a time early in the afternoon of 24/12/2020 when my head ached seriously. I got worried. I requested for water. From this period, I occasionally requested water from them. To enable me drink water, they untied my hands. They always provided me with water they fetched in stream or creek with small 75 centiliter plastic, light – yellow Coca Cola Fanta bottle. The water was cloudy in colour but there was no visible sediment in it. I sipped it and tested it. I know how creek and stream waters test. During my adolescence and as teenager and prior to that, I had drunk such water on daily basis as table water for about 18 years.

I drank about half of the volume of the water, returned the bottle to them and thank them. They laughed and chatted as I drank the water severally. They spoke in Hausa. They mentioned bottle water, car. I do not understand Hausa very well and cannot speak it fluently. I do have a smattering of Hausa. They were laughing at me and saying I had resorted to drinking such type of water. That I used to drink only bottle water. That my car was full of empty bottle water cans.

Subsequently, their leader informed me they had gari. They in fact chewed the gari severally. I told them to give me. They gave me a medium sized black polythene bag (popularly called no respect). It was tied. I untied it. It contained white gari that appeared well crystallized and well fried. It looked very dry. I took a handful of it and poured it into my mouth. It was normal gari. Very dried and well fried. I took another handful and chewed. I took the third and chewed and the fourth. I returned the bag to them.

“We have water, drink am”, the leader advised me.  I stretched my hand and fetch back the bag and searched it. I saw about 5 cubes of Star magi, a small faintly silver coloured stainless steel plate, about four white granules wrapped in separately in very small nylon bag. The shape of the nylon made each of the separately wrapped granules conical. There was a mildly bigger one that was slightly milky in colour. There was also a stainless steel spoon.

I took some handfuls of gari from the bag and poured into the plate and poured some water into the plate. I took the biggest granules, opened it and poured small quantity into the plate and then with the spoon stirred the granules, the gari and water. When I took a spoonful into my mouth, it was salt and not sugar. I notified them. They told me sugar was there. I took a smaller wrap of granules, opened it and poured a small quantity into the plate. I scooped a very small portion of it and tested it with my tongue. It was actually sugar. I emptied the rap into the plate, stirred the whole and began to eat the mixture. It tested like Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT) Solution.

After eating, I rinsed the plate, put it in the bag, tied the same and returned it to them, and thanked them. Shortly thereafter, they tied my hands with chain, padlocked the chain and fasten the other end of the chain around base of a small tree and padlocked it.

They used four small padlocks: two for my hands, the other two, for my legs. One end of the chain was padlocked against my wrists, while the other was padlocked against base of a small tree. One padlock was used to lock a chain against my ankles, while another padlock was used for locking the chain against base of a small tree.

The leader of the kidnapper was a very young Fulani. All of them were very young Fulanis.

At times they ordered me to cover my face with my white singlet and I obeyed. Most of the time, I was not covering my face. With my wife’s mobile phone, the leader conversed often with my wife via my own mobile phone which my wife fetched from my car shortly after she was freed. He would always call my wife “aunty” in his phone conversation with her. After conversing with my wife or relative on phone via my wife mobile phone, he always switched off my wife’s mobile phone and keep the same. I sensed they secretly phoned and conversed with my wife and mother.

The phone strictly remained with them. They did not blindfold me. Occasionally, they told me to cover my face with my white singlet, a T – shirt. Sometimes I covered my head with it but my face was generally not covered. In the second day, they were more interested that I should not be facing them.

Early in the afternoon of 24/12/2020, I pleaded with the kidnappers to allow me phone my parents and wife to know the total sum of money they had gotten. One of the kidnappers, the soft spoken leader, phoned my parents and wife via my wife’s mobile phone and asked my wife how much money had been raised and my wife said N500,000. I asked him what my family could do in view of the readiness of the money. He asked me why the sum was the only money I could raise. I informed him that some people promised to send money but that their money had not yet been received. ‘Ok, make una de gather’, he responded.

Late in the afternoon of 24/12/2020, the leader of the kidnapper said to me, “we no go sleep here again with you”. Shortly thereafter, I pleaded to them to help me in making phone calls for money and to know whether more money had been ready. The leader of the kidnapper brought out my wife’s phone and phoned my wife himself. Their phone conversation went as follows:

Kidnapper: Aunty, how much una don gather.

My wife:  N300,000

Kidnapper: No be you tel us say N500,000 de, you think say we de sell  magi.

The conversation ended. He talked angrily for few minutes. As he was talking, I pleaded to them to allow me talk with my wife on phone. He gave me the phone and after dialing my number, talked with my wife on phone in pidgin English. I said to her, go to the bank and wait, bank will soon close, you cannot withdraw big money with ATM card, go inside the bank and wait inside. When the money is paid in, you withdraw it, don’t tell me bank has closed. Thereafter, I returned the phone to him, which he collected, switched off and kept.

Then, I said to them: She don already get cash of N3000,000 with her there. She get that one ready.   She de sure say N200,000 go soon enter the account. Somebody promise us the money. If she withdraw am ad I go de complete. I don tel am make him de go bank make I no wait for money enter the account before I go de go bank.  .

After about one hour, the leader of the kidnapper asked me where my wife was. I told him I wanted to call to find out. When I phoned and talked with my wife, she said she was in Nkpo close to Onisha and that the money had been up to N500,000. I reported the same to him. He said ‘ok’. I then asked him how the money could be given to them. He did not respond.

After about 30 minutes, I told them that it was risky for such large sum of money to be carried in cash, and that it was good that they collect the money, as thieves or robbers might steal the money from my wife.

About 25 minutes later, the leader of the kidnappers told me to tell my wife to bring the money to “Oba Junction”. As I asked, “Oba Junction” in disbelieve, another kidnapper interjected, “Aba Junction”, and the leader said “Aba Junction”. I phoned and told my wife that she should bring the money to Aba Junction. After that the leader of the kidnapper collected the phone and switched it off.

After about 40 minutes, there was more movements and conversations amongst them.

There was a phone conversation suggesting arrival of my wife at Aba Junction. Shortly thereafter, two of the kidnappers each with his rifle moved through my right hand side to the direction of the Enugu – Onisha Express Road, another two kidnapers each of whom was armed with rifle moved through my left hand side to the direction of the Enugu – Onisha Express Road, and an armless kidnapper, the aggressive, hot tempered one wearing dull, milk colourd dress moved East in their middle towards the same express road. As they were moving to the express road, the leader stood at my back, using me as a protection and looking very keenly and consistently in the direction of the express road.

After about 10 minutes, the aggressive, fair, kidnapper returned through West, from my back. A nylon bag muffled. I saw a strand of my mother’s old yellow striped rapper. One of them unchained me, and the aggressive one led me out of the bush to the express road, which was near, in the same direction he had left for the money. My singlet was still hanging on my head while I was leaving. I told him I had no money on me for transportation. He gave me two Five Hundred Naira Notes. As he was seeing me off, he did not want me to move in some direction. He pointed to his right hand side direction towards the express road and said, to me “your people are there”.

On getting to the express road, I saw my mother and my wife trekking down the express road towards me.

They told me my maternal cousin, Kenneth Aduaka and father in-law, Uche Obiadi, were in my father in-law’s car off Aba Junction and that the kidnappers warned them not to come with any man. As three of us were trekking up to meet my father in-law and cousin, two of them were trekking in our direction and we met. “If you see what bullets did to your car”, my father in-law told me. I did not take that serious. May be a stray bullet hit my car, I thought.

As we were trekking by the right hand side of the express road, I saw heaps of rubles in the opposite side of the express road, about 8 meters away from the express road. The rubles were mixture of old road chippings and tar removed and heaped by the roadside due to rehabilitation of that part of Enugu Onisha Express Road. Oh!, they were one of the rubles I had seen and sat on very early in the morning of 23/12/2020.

We got to our home in Nteje to the waiting eyes and hands of our family members, kinsmen and women, villagers, friends and well – wishers all of whom joyously, embraced me. Their jubilation, dancing, chanting and happiness were unique celebration of my release and safety. It was exhilarating, invigorating and consoling. I thank God!

When we got home, I did not see my car. On inquiry, my father in-law told me police took it to their police station in Abagana.

After about two days, I went to the police station and saw the car. A policeman showed me 8 bullet casings and told me police collected them from the scene of the attack. Two of the casings were much darker than the other 7 and he informed me the darker ones were of cartridges exclusively give to Nigerian Army and police. I examined our car carefully and severally. Oh my God, the impacts of the bullets, the angles of the two bullet perforations, showed me the shooters shot with specific intent to murder the driver (possibly so that the car could stop).

The heat waves of the burning propellant, created visibly on the two side glass in the passenger compartment about four different spherical rings of various diameters. Also, about 9 centimeter radius of the point of bullet entrance into the car via the glass, there were about 9 shiny dents of various sizes, most of which appeared left of the point of bullet entry. When I gently touched the dents, glass in each of the dented area of the glass had already granulated and wilted. But there was no opening yet in any of the dents.

I drove the car from the police station to my home town, Nteje and parked it there. When I disembarked, I looked again at the impact of the bullet to the car glass. The dents had become openings of different sizes and shapes. As I was driving the car home, vibrations of the car body made the granulated and wilted glass particles to fall off thereby creating more holes around the point of bullet entry on the left car glass.

From the angle of the bullet entry, I think the shooter shot not at right angle. He shot at an angle of about 75 degrees left of the point of the bullet entry. Based on the effect of the heat wave on the glass, I believe the shooter shot from a very close range, about 5 feet away from the car. I could remember I heard a very deafening gunshot very close to my car and from the left side of the car. Also, my wife later told me she clearly heard rough, cracking sounds inside the right back of the car.

Why should a human being who wants to rob or kidnap a driver or passenger of a car shoot not in the tyre of the car but in inside the car and actually in such a manner as to kill the driver or/and passengers? I  remember clearly that the armed attackers did not block the road in any manner. At the time we saw the first kidnapper, he was not standing in the middle of the road. He was trekking very slowly by the roadside, almost off the road.

We were never given any opportunity to cooperate in the kidnapping and armed robbery before our lives were being consistently threatened by rains of bullets from four shooters who were consistently shooting directly at us.

I could remember that as my vehicle veered of the road and stuck, all the gunshots stopped, and after running to a distance of about 6 meters away from my car, the gunshots resumed.  It then understood that the mixture of faint sounds of “peto crasha”, “peto crasha”, “peto crasha”, “peto crasha” I heard very close to me as the gunshots resumed were sounds of bullets hitting the ground and grasses. The fact that the sounds changed direction as I changed direction, and that both the sounds and gunshots ceased as soon as I lay on the grown, showed me that the shooters were not only seeing me but were shooting at me to prevent me from escaping.

Also, I could remember that one of the armed attackers warned me during my captivity, that if I attempted to escape, that meant I personally killed myself.

 

Glory be to God in the highest

 

TOOCHUKWU IGWEZE is anambra based Lawyer