Obinna Odogwu, Abakaliki
Gunmen yesterday abducted a mechanic and a driver at Ukwagba Ngbo community in Ohaukwu Council Area of Ebonyi State.
The men were seized when the gunmen failed to get Dr. Peter Okorie, an aide to a former governor of Ebonyi State.
The suspected criminals burnt Okorie’s house and looted some of his property worth millions of naira.
Okorie, former Enugu Archdiocesan Lay President of Methodist Church Nigeria, narrated that a concerned villager who had information about the plot came to his house same day and disclosed it to him for precautionary reasons.
“I went to my house in the village to pick my generator for repair. We were trying to pull out the generator and a man came to my house crying.
“He said that some boys have planned to assassinate me; that their plan was to put a barricade on the road so that I will be compelled to stop for them. And so, we moved and I locked up my jeep from the inside.
“We got there, just two poles from my house, we saw the barricade and we stopped.
“They rushed to my car, tried to open the doors but my doors were locked. When I saw they were going to bring their guns to scatter the glass of the car.
“I told my driver to put the jeep in auxiliary gear and he jumped the barricade and we moved. They jumped into their motorcycle and pursued me and just about two poles away from the scene, the motorcycle crashed. We moved and was able to come out to the main road.
“They later went back to my house, as they failed to get me but only succeeded in kidnapping the mechanic that came to lose the generator and that of the driver of the bus that came to carry the generator.
“Not that they attempted to burn down my house, they have burnt it. They looted my property. The one they didn’t burn, they broke through my boys’ quarters.
“They broke through my four bedroom bungalow and my duplex in the village. I’m giving thanks to God for saving my life. I know that if God wants to replenish the loss in three months, He will do it,” he said.
Meanwhile, Okorie who disclosed that arrests have been made by the police, had also petitioned the Inspector General of Police and the governor of Ebonyi State, Chief David Umahi, seeking protection and urgent intervention.
When contacted, the police spokesperson, Loveth Odah, Deputy Superintendent of Police, said she was not aware of the development.