A local tricycle operator, Mr. Dennis Izuchukwu Okechi, has recounted how six armed bandits threatened to shoot him dead after he used the Igbo language to secretly alert his community to his location during a kidnapping ordeal in Ohuhu, Umuahia North Local Government Area.
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Okechi and Mrs. Onyinyechi Ekechukwu, a farmer, were abducted around 3:00 p.m. last Wednesday while returning from their farm in the Umuawa Alaocha community. The bandits dragged them into the bush, where they inflicted wounds on both victims and demanded a ₦10 million ransom.
Speaking from his hospital bed, Okechi described the dramatic moment when the kidnappers handed him his phone to contact his family. Instead of using English, he quickly switched to Igbo to reveal their exact location in the Udengwu forest.
“I quickly used the Igbo language to alert them about the area where the bandits had dragged me and Auntie Onyinyechi. I told them that I was being held in the Udengwu area, and this helped my people to know the location where we were being held,” Okechi narrated.
He continued: “But the bandits became angry at me for not speaking English so that they could hear what I told my people. They threatened to shoot me.”
The victims were rescued around midnight the same day by the Umuawa Alaocha community security outfit after youths and leaders mobilized and combed the forest following Okechi’s alert. The bandits, who reportedly spoke a strange language and identified themselves as “bandits,” fled through another route in the bush upon noticing the approaching rescue team.
Okechi expressed deep appreciation to the youths and leaders of his community for their swift response, which led to their rescue.
In reaction to the incident, the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Hon. Obi Aguocha, strongly condemned the attack on his Ohuhu community. He called for increased vigilance across Ohuhu and other parts of Igboland to curb the rising threat of banditry and kidnapping.
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