•Says, abductors are well-organised

By OLA AGBAJE

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and activist, Chief Mike Ozekhome, yesterday narrated his three-week ordeal in the kidnappers’ den. According to him, his abductors, who are learned, are well-organised. They vowed to target politicians in 2015.

Ozekhome, who addressed a press conference at his residence in Igando, Alimosho Local Government Area of Lagos State after his release yesterday, said he was driven, blindfolded on a rough road for about four hours into a jungle far removed from civilization after he was taken hostage near Benin around 3pm on August 23, 2013.

According to Ozekhome, the abductors took him to an uncompleted building in the bush while a colony of mosquitoes fed on him and other hostages like barbeque in the camp. The lawyer said he took ill and was promptly attended to by the kidnappers’ doctor who after examining him, gave him injections and intravenous as part of his treatment for malaria and typhoid.

He said from the moment of his abduction on August 23, he and 12 other victims were blindfolded by the gang in the camp.
He said any time they wanted to speak to their abductors, they must face the ground, as looking at them (kidnappers) could hand the offender instant death sentence.

“Every 24 hours of the day, we had death sentence hanging on our heads. When any of the kidnappers wanted to speak to us, we must face the wall or the ground. They treated me gently because they said they have discovered I’m on the side of the masses that I have been fighting for the masses”, he said.

Ozekhome said that his psychological and physical trauma were compounded when his son, Ilugbekhai, also a lawyer, and one of his juniors in chambers, Dominic Ezerioha, were lured and eventually detained with him in the camp.
He described his abductors as highly organized and well-educated, which according to him, made it difficult for security operatives to track them.

He said, “even when making phone calls to the families of the victims, they travel across four or five states so that where they make the calls is different from where their victims were kept. They discussed national issues with high intellect.
“These are graduates of various disciplines I believe. They understand philosophy, history, political science and as I said, they have their medical team. One of them said he had graduated for six years without a job and they argued that only one per cent of Nigerians have fraudulently cornered the nation’s wealth so, they raised arguments to justify their actions.
“They vowed that in 2015, they will move against the politicians who they accused of being in the habit of using and dumping them. I then asked them what is the way out? They requested that the Federal Government should also grant them amnesty and that they are ready to lay down their arms if they are given amnesty just like the Niger Delta militants.
“They said they are ready to come out of the jungle to remove their masks and join the roundtable talks if there is assurance that they will not be arrested by the government,” he said.

According to him, the kidnappers have several units and cells across the nation. “For example, they mentioned several notable Nigerians who had been kidnapped in the past in the North, East and West, which they claimed, were through their network.”

Contrary to the general belief that the kidnappers usually conduct background information about their victims, Ozekhome said his adbductors told him that they just operate randomly and that they don’t profile anybody before they are taken hostage.

“For example, they said they do not know me. they searched through my pocket. They collected everything including my card. So, when they asked for my name and I told them, they said yes, it is true.
On the way forward, Ozekhome urged the Federal Government to declare a state of emergency on insecurity. According to him, a situation where none of us is safe on the road, in the air, on the river, in the daytime or night, is a serious and monumental problem and we cannot continue to fold our arms. He linked the problem of insecurity fundamentally to the massive youth unemployment which he described as complex and gargantuan.

He called on government to declare an emergency on youth unemployment as any further delay might spell doom for the nation. He described youth joblessness as the father of Boko Haram, the militants, the kidnappers and robbers.
As part of solution to the problem,  Ozekhome called on the National Assembly to immediately amend the constitution to allow for the establishment of state police.

“The argument against state police can no longer be justified in the face of grim security situation in the country. We should go through federalism as we had before the January 15, 1966 coup. In the United States, which is a thorough federal system, they have the FBI, the state police, and the city police. In fact, higher institutions there have their campus policing, he said.
He noted that Nigeria can no longer pretend to be a united nation because Nigerians owe their allegiance to their various ethnic tribes first. “For example, the kidnappers asked me whether I’m aware of the prediction that Nigeria will break up before 2015 and I said yes. They said the break-up will be in smaller units as each armed gangsters control its territory across the country. I now realize that this is a serious matter because I never thought that line before. Now is the time for us to organize a national talkshop to retool the nation and redesign the fabrics of our co-existence.”

In tears, Ozekhome gave thanks to God Almighty and vowed to rededicate his life to serve God and humanity.
Giving a clue about his shedding of weight, he said they were only fed once daily throughout their stay in the camp.
Asked if ransom was paid to secure his release, Ozekhome said he was not aware of how much or who paid what, but later said in proverb that a hunter does not fully disclose the trouble that he went through in the jungle.

He thanked Nigerians and said his abduction has no political undertone because the kidnappers do not operate on the basis of any socio-economic, religious or tribal considerations.

While mourning the killing of four policemen who were on a mission to rescue him, the lawyer called on the Inspector-General of Police and Minister of Police Affairs to immediately set up a foundation to take care of the education of their children and their immediate families.