Channels Television reporter in Imo State, Mr. Eyitope Kuteyi, who was abducted from his home by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers, yesterday described his ordeal in the kidnappers’ den as traumatising.
Kuteyi, who regained his freedom on Tuesday night after the police command, led Police Commissioner Taiwo Lakanu, launched a massive manhunt in the Uhuba Forest in Ohaji Egbema Local Government Area.
The reporter said he spent two nights with his abductors in the thick forest.
According to him, the kidnappers blindfolded him most of the time and pointed guns at his head at all time.
Kuteyi said he went on hunger strike for fear of being poisoned.
He said: “The kidnappers had spies who were calling them at every time to tell them the movements of the police and other security operatives. They were changing locations very often. When the police squad came for my rescue, they were notified the moment the police vehicles arrived in the village where the forest is located. We started walking deeper into the forest. When the policemen were shooting, we were hearing the gunshots. It was at that point they knew that the game was up, that we had been located.
“Meanwhile, the following morning after I was kidnapped, one of their informants told them that the news was everywhere in the newspapers. That meant I must be an important person who they should not take anything less than N10 million as ransom from.”
He added: “It was at 10 pm on Tuesday they came and told me to move, that I would be going home. They showed me a track and gave me N1,000. I walked for about 45 minutes before I got to a village and took a motorcycle to Avu Junction on the Owerri-Port Harcourt Road.”
Lakanu assured that those behind the abduction of the journalist would soon be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.
The police chief led over 200 policemen to rescue the television reporter.
He warned that there would be no hiding place for kidnappers and other criminals in the state.
Lakanu said: “We have our intelligence about those behind the kidnap of the Channels’ Televisionreporter. We are on their trail; they will soon be in police net. We have also intensified the manhunt for other suspected kidnappers across the state. They will be brought to justice. We will flush them out, no matter where they are hiding.”
The police chief urged the public to always provide the command with credible information on the activities of criminals, adding that the police would rid the state of hoodlums.
Also, a close friend of Kuteyi, who spoke in confidence, said he negotiated with the kidnappers, who initially demanded N15 million ransom.
He recalled that the moment the police invaded the forest, where the kidnappers were holding the television reporter, the hoodlums hurriedly asked him to bring whatever money he had as ransom.
Although he could not confirm if the kidnappers collected any money before they released Kuteyi, the reporter’s friend said the action of the police put a lot of pressure on the kidnappers.
He said it forced them to release the reporter against their earlier demands.
A statement yesterday in Owerri, the state capital, by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Sam Onwuemeodo, Governor Rochas Okorocha hailed the police for promptly rescuing the journalist.
He assured that his administration would sustain the war against kidnapping and other crimes to ensure that the prevailing peace and security was not jeopardised.
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