DR. John Osuyali, former personal assistant to ex-governor of Delta State, James Ibori, who was abducted last week by some kidnappers at Ikot-Ekpene, Akwa Ibom State, has been released.
Osuyali, an official of the State Action Committee on Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (SACA), was freed on Wednesday by his captors.
He said on telephone yesterday from his Asaba home that his family paid an unspecified amount of money before his abductors freed him after five days in the militants’ camp.
Osuyali said that they took him to Aba, Abia State, where they released him after the payment of the ransom.
The medical doctor said he travelled by night on a bus to Asaba.
“It was hell, but I am happy to be back home alive to the warm embrace of my family,” he stated.
The SACA official had travelled to Cross River State last week and was scheduled to return last weekend but when he did not arrive, his family members in Asaba became worried and alerted the public.
However, they learnt that he was held captive by some armed youths in Ikot-Ekpene in neighbouring Akwa Ibom State.
The hoodlums demanded a N5 million ransom for his release
In a show of solidarity, his fellow physicians in the Delta State branch of the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), led by Dr. Akpofuoma Pemu, visited the family in Asaba.
Pemu had assured Osuyali’s wife that the association would stand with her in her moment of travail.