Bayelsa State-born Agba who
denied being a kidnapper, had gone to the said hotel in Eket to collect the N3
million he had negotiated for the pirates from the fishermen when the police
apprehended him.
The Akwa Ibom police
command has arrested three suspected kidnappers identified as Austin Agba, 35;
Friday Sunday Paul, 23, and Christian Ekenu, 27, after their leader simply
identified as Agba, went to pick up the N3 million ransom from relatives of one
of their kidnapped victims at Olympus Hotel, along Afaha Uqua Road, Eket Local
Government Area.
‘I’m a middleman. I am just
an Ijaw man and a middleman to the Ijaw fishermen and the pirates. So, there
are certain groups of fishermen that normally contribute money to the pirates
to make sure they do their businesses smoothly.
When the pirates had a
meeting with the fishermen, they said I am the one that would be negotiating
the monthly payment.
The fishermen said if they
negotiate directly, the pirates will charge them too high, but if I intervene,
the pirates will bring down the levy because I am an Ijaw brother. On that
fateful day, I went to collect the money to settle the pirates so that they
would allow the fishermen do their business. It was in the process that I was
arrested”.
Denying being a kidnapper,
another member of the gang, 23 year old Friday Sunday Paul, from Eastern Obolo
Local Government Area, whose duty it was to convey victims on his motorbike,
said on the contrary, he was kidnapped by the group members.
“I was riding my bike along
Afaha Uqua Road junction when three guys stopped me. Two of them climbed the
bike and told me to take them somewhere.
On getting there, one of
them put his hand in my trouser and said I must take them to where they were
going to. They used a gun to threaten me, saying they were going for an
operation. I am not one of them. I was set up”he said
Ekenu, who is from Oron
Local Government Area, said
“I came in from Lagos to
meet my friend, Tony. I am an artist. When I arrived Oron, he asked me how much
I came with and I said I did not come with any money.
He called his friends and
said they should take my shoes, watch and phones. When they went outside the
room, I escaped through the ceiling and ran to the police station.
Unfortunately for me, along
the road, they picked me and took me to the police station, saying I was a
kidnapper.
It is for that reason that
I am here. I do not understand any of these.”
Refuting their claims, the
spokesperson of the Akwa Ibom Police command, Delia Nwawe, said they were
members of the same gang, who were arrested following each suspect’s
confessional statement.
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