From Obinna Odogwu, Awka
The International Press Centre (IPC) has demanded the immediate release of a journalist with Punch Newspapers, Okechukwu Nnodim, who was abducted by gunmen at his residence in Abuja at about 11 pm last Wednesday.
Nnodim’s wife, Oluchi, was quoted in reports as narrating that her husband was working on his laptop when five strange men scaled the fence and entered their compound while ordering them to open the door.
She was also quoted as saying that the gunmen fired several shots at the windows and subsequently pulled down the burglary proof after which they forced open the front door.
Oluchi narrated that her husband had asked her to stay with the children in their room and while there, heard the men asking her husband to bring out the money.
She further narrated that her husband told the criminals that he did not have money in the house adding that the abductors took their phones and marched Nnodim out of the house.
While demanding for Nnodim’s immediate release, IPC in a statement signed by its Program Officer/Safety Desk Officer, Melody Lawal, asked the security agencies to do all they could to ensure that Nnodim is freed without being harmed in any way.
‘The International Press Centre (IPC) Lagos-Nigeria hereby calls for the immediate release of The Punch journalist, Okechukwu Nnodim, who was abducted by gunmen at about 11 pm on Wednesday, February 3, 2021, at his residence in Abuja,’ the statement partly read.
The statement quoted IPC’s Executive Director, Mr Lanre Arogundade, as lamenting the spate of insecurity in the country saying that journalists have become easy targets.
‘The spate of insecurity in the country should be of serious concern to all. It is very disturbing that journalists and media practitioners have also become easy targets,’ the statement quoted Arogundade as saying.