Ebonyi police arrest abductors of town crier

The Ebonyi State Police Command on Thursday arrested a gang of suspected

hoodlums, doubling as political thugs, which kidnapped a local town crier, Ogbonnaya Okoro (alias Big Boy).

Okoro was abducted in Okposi Community in Ohaozara Local Government Area of the state last Tuesday.

Seven members of the gang, who are being detained at the police headquarters in the state, were apprehended in a nearby community.

The police said the arrest was made possible following a tip off from vigilance group members in the community.

The kidnap victim told journalists that his abductors came to his home in the late hours of Tuesday and started beating him with machetes and clubs before dragging him into a waiting mini-bus.

Okoro said once inside the mini-bus, which bore the inscription of one of the governorship candidates in the forthcoming governorship election in the state, the men blindfolded him with a red cloth, which made it impossible for him to know where he was at any particular time.

“After traveling for some distance, they brought me out and started beating me. When they stopped, they asked me how much I was paid to do an announcement by another political party, saying that they would kill me if I didn’t comply with what they will ask me to do,” he said.

The town crier stated that the hoodlums brought him to the community market square and directed him to start beating the gong and telling the people that he sold his community for N5, 000 and that the people should vote for the candidate of a particular party.

“While I was doing the announcement, the men continued to beat me in the back with machetes and clubs,” he added, saying the beating continued until the men of Afikpo zonal police command rescued him.

Some of the weapons found in the possession of the hoodlums include various sizes of machetes and metal axes.

Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Chris Anyanwu, explained that since the matter was under anti-kidnapping department of the police command, the report had yet to get to his office.