Kidnappers of five year-old Divine Ifeanyi Eme-ruwa, son of Production Supervisor of Shell Petroleum Development Company last night released the boy by dropping him with some petty traders who own kiosks beside Mr. Biggs Fast Food shop on Azikiwe Road, Port Harcourt.
The State Security Services said they secured the boy�s release without the payment of the N2 million ransom which the kidnappers had demanded when they last spoke on telephone with the parents of the boy.
Little Emeruwa, who was still in his night wears when THISDAY went to the SSS Headquarters in the state to see him before being handed over to his father, Mr. Ifeanyi Emeruwa and his wife, Ada.
The boy said the kidnappers first took him to a hotel where they left with one of the �bad boys� before he was finally taken to the house of one Aunty Candy from where he was eventually released.
�They took me to a hotel where they gave me Indomie to eat and I watched cartoon network before they took me to the house of Aunty Candy who said she did not want the bad boys to see me�, he narrated.
Asked if people were visiting the house of Candy while he was there, he replied in the affirmative, adding, �When her friends come, I will keep to myself and when they go I will talk to her�.
He also said he prayed to God to touch the heart of his captors to release him though he was not afraid throughout the period he was with them.
The boy, who is a student of Catoky International School on Abacha Road, Port Harcourt, said his abductors always told him that he would soon go home.
On how he was eventually released, Master Emeruwa said �Aunty Candy told me that she wanted to buy credit and that she will cover my face so that the bad boys will not see me. We entered a car and later she took okada (commercial motorcycle) and dropped me in the place�.
On whether the woman was still there at the time he was picked up, he replied in the affirmative but intoned, �I am happy to be with my mum and dad again�.
Father of the boy said he and the rest of the family were in their house when at about 8.30 pm their house girl went out to buy something and the door was open. Suddenly, two men dressed in suit burst into the house and demanded for money.
�Once they got in like that, I knew there was” problem. They asked me for money and I told them that it was in the bag I came in with. They asked me to stand up and bring it. When I brought the money which was N3, 000, they were angry and asked me what this is.
�I did not even know when they entered our room as I was lying down when my wife came out shouting that they had taken Divine and left with him. They later called my wife�s number demanding for money�, he said.
He said he was under immense pressure from his wife to give the money the kidnappers demanded but he insisted on not paying anything to the kidnappers, especially with the SSS encouraging him.
The wife, Ada, said she would have given the kidnappers anything under the sun to ensure that they released his boy as �Nothing under the sun can equate the value of the boy�.
She said she did not eat or sleep for the three weeks the kidnappers held the boy. �I am very happy to have my child back,” he said.
Shell’s General Manager, Corporate Security, Mr. Adeleke Adedipe said they called the police and relevant security agencies when the boy was taken, and that though they know that children of oil workers were not targets of kidnappers, they resorted to giving security tips as some of the members of staff live in their private houses.
He expressed appreciation for the role the SSS played in ensuring the release of the boy without any money being paid.
Nov42007