Natives collaborate with herders in kidnappings in Enugu communities

By Adeleye Kunle

Seven suspected kidnappers for ransom made up of Fulani herdsmen and other natives were apprehended in different parts of Enugu State within the last month by both community security outfits and the police.

On June 19, suspected Fulani kidnappers allegedly invaded the Ibite-Awhum community in the Udi local government council area and kidnapped six pilgrims. Forest guards later rescued the victims.

The pilgrims were reportedly kidnapped in broad daylight while praying at a popular hill near the Awhum Monastery and taken deep into the forest. The victims were later rescued by forest guards from the Udi and Enugu East Local Government Councils working together.

A pilgrim who witnessed the incident but escaped the marauders was said to have raised an alarm, drawing the attention of the villagers. The incident was said to have sent the Monastery’s inmates and nearby villages into a frenzy, prompting them to notify forest guards and other security agencies in the area.

The security agents were said to have acted quickly after receiving the information and pursued the kidnappers. Mr. Mathew Obodoechi, Director of Enugu State Forest Guards, stated that the forest guards in the area pursued the kidnappers and contacted their counterparts in Ogbeke-Nike, Enugu East Local Government, who also mobilized.

“Seeing that they were being hemmed in from both ends, the kidnappers fled,” a village source said, “leaving the captives alone in their camp where they were discovered by the guards along with a victim from another incident.”

The victims who were evacuated to the Monastery described their ordeal, saying they were praying on the hill when they were suddenly surrounded by about seven Fulani-looking individuals wearing police uniforms.

“The bandits confiscated all of our phones and ordered us into the forest.” We arrived at the bandits’ camp deep in the forest after a long trek, where about ten of their colleagues awaited them. We also discovered another kidnapping victim there. “For reasons we didn’t understand at the time, the kidnappers became panicked and ran into the forest, leaving us alone and confused before the forest guards arrived,” one of the victims narrated.
According to reports, the Enugu State government was briefed on the incident.

About five indigenes were abducted in Ikem, Isi-uzo local government area, in a series of kidnappings carried out jointly by natives of Enugu State and Fulani herdsmen who are reportedly camping at the Isi-Uzo/Benue State border at Okpokwu local government area of Benue State.

The kidnapper’s den has spread to Eha-Amufu, where most farmers have been killed, kidnapped for ransom, women raped, and property destroyed, with Eha-Amufu indigenes being chased off their land.

Mr. Lawrence Ndu, Catechist of Saint James Catholic Church, Ishioroto-Ikem; Mr. Emeka Odo and his brother Ikechukwu Odo, an Italy-based evangelist; and Ejike Agbodo, a bus driver and another Okada operator who were kidnapped while on commercial duty along the Ikem-Odenigbo, Eha-Benue State road.

According to Emeka Odo, an Evangelist based in Italy, the over ten kidnappers who abducted them along the Ikem- Obollo Afor road were all Fulani terrorists who welded AK-47s.

Odo, who quickly returned to his base after regaining his freedom, told Vanguard that they were flagged down in their car, taken into the bush, and taken through bush tracks to the Eha-Amufu and Benue State borders, adding that they paid a ransom before being released.

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