A former Secretary to the Enugu State Government Dr. Dan Shere and other victims of kidnapping have regained freedom from their abductors.
Shere and some travellers were kidnapped Thursday morning on their way to Enugu, along the Nsukka/Opi Highway but were reportedly freed on Saturday.
It’s not certain how much was paid for their freedom but some close allies said their release would not have been possible without heavy ransom.
Their freedom triggered a wave of celebration at the Nsukka Campus of the University of Nigeria (UNN) as some of the victims are students of the school.
The Nsukka highway has in the last month become a kidnappers’ den despite the presence of army and police checkpoints.
In the wake of the development, security heads in the state vowed to halt the trend, maintaining their resolve to rid the South-East state of criminality.
The security operatives’ head which included the General Officer Commanding (GOC) 82 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Umar Musa, the State Commissioner of Police, CP Ahmed Ammani, the Director of Department of State Services (DSS) H.M Daluwa, the Garrison Commander, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Brig. Gen. M.K Ibrahim, among others, was led to the kidnappers’ hideouts by the state governor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, for an assessment of the area last week.
In his address, the GOC, 82 Division, Nigerian Army, Maj. Gen. Musa, who spoke on behalf of the other heads of security agencies in the state, confirmed that “the perpetrators are purely kidnappers.”
The GOC assured the public that “these criminals will be fished out and they will be dealt with”.
“We are here; we have seen the deployment; this state is peaceful but once in a while you have criminals and I assure you that these criminals will be fished out and they will be dealt with,” he maintained.
But, he urged residents of the state to avoid rushing to social media when there is a crime, noting that “news items on social media platforms are usually unconfirmed incidents and could send the wrong notion to the public”.
