The commissioner for housing and urban development in the state of Benue is Chief Ekpe Ogbu. A few days before Christmas, Ogbu was kidnapped by armed men believed to be bandits in the state’s Otukpo Local Government Area and taken into a jungle with three other people. In this interview, he describes the 32-hour struggle he and the other prisoners had with the daredevil bandits and how they were eventually let free. Excerpts:
In Otukpo LGA, masked assailants kidnapped you. Can you tell me what happened exactly?
On December 4, 2022, “I was abducted as I was returning to Makurdi from my village Utonkon in the Ado Local Government Area. But it took place in Otukpo, close to the Federal University’s intended permanent location, at a location named Adankari Junction.”
“When we arrived, the kidnappers had set up an ambush and had demobilized the Hilux van I was riding in with my driver and two other people.”
“We were attacked by roughly seven of them, who were well-armed and disguised. They were speaking Fulfulde, though, which I noted. They led us into a huge woodland.”
Have they established a base in the woods?
“They did not take us to a base in the forest; instead, we were simply going in the shape of a triangle. This movement lasted for almost 32 hours. It took so long since we were taken about 3:45 pm on a Sunday and emerged from the forest around 1:20 pm on a Tuesday.”
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