Barely one week after President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua promised to grant amnesty to any of the Niger Delta militants who willingly gives up his arms, the gale of abduction took a new and frightening dimension as an expatriate engineer with the Marlum Construction Company Nig Ltd was yesterday kidnapped by yet to be identified armed men at their construction site in Abakaliki, Ebonyi State.
And in a swift response, Ebonyi State government described as “condemnable, uncharitable and totally alien to the culture and tradition of the state” yesterday’s kidnap of one of the expatriate workers with the construction company handling the construction of the N11.2 billion ultra-modern state secretariat complex, Marlum Construction Company Nig Ltd by yet-to-be identified gunmen.
Already, the kidnappers have made a ransom demand of N150 million from the construction company and the state government.
Officials of the construction firm were still in a state of confusion yesterday as our reporter tried to ascertain the details of what happened and whether the kidnappers had made any demand yet. No group either from the Niger Delta or the state had accepted being behind the kidnap as at the time of filing this report.
But the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Kachi Udorji, who confirmed the incident declined making further comments, on grounds that giving further details might jeopardise investigations.
The driver of the vehicle conveying the expatriate worker, simply identified as Joseph, was said to have been intercepted along the pathway leading to the company’s plant yard, very close to the main site of the building, and was forced into the boot of the vehicle by the gunmen.
Almost immediately after forcing him into the boot, another vehicle conveying another staff of the firm with armed police escort arrived at the scene and even saw the vehicle commandeered by the kidnapers zooming off, but did not know the white man was in the boot.
This development has put other expatriates working with many construction firms and even indigenes of the state on edge as the incidences of kidnapping and hostage taking was gradually taking root in the state, although this is the first time an expatriate was kidnapped.
When contacted, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Dr Onyekachi Eni, could not give details as he was yet to get clearance from the governor. However, THISDAY gathered that Governor Martin Elechi held a closed-door meeting with the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria Massimo Baistrocchi, apparently in connection with the kidnap. Details of the meeting were not made public as at the time of filing this report.
Speaking in a telephone interview with THISDAY, the Chief Eni who said the kidnappers had already made their demand, disclosed that the state government was collaborating with the Italian Ambassador to Nigeria and the security operatives with a view to rescuing the kidnapped victim un-harmed.
“Ebonyi state government is concerned over the kidnap of the Italian expatriate worker with Marlum Construction Company. The kidnap is alien to Ebonyi culture because we are noted for our hospitality and accommodation to others whether they are Nigerians are foreigners. We appeal to the kidnappers to return their victim unharmed.
“The Italian Ambassador and the state government are working with the security operatives with a view to rescuing the kidnapped person. They want to ensure the peaceful resolution of the impasse. The Ambassador met with the governor at the Ebonyi State Liaison Office in Maitama, Abuja, Tuesday evening on the issue,” Eni stated.