Bandits threatened to shoot me for speaking Igbo – Umuahia kidnap victim
Local Tricycle Operator and Farmer Kidnapped, Rescued After Threats from Bandits
UMUAHIA, Nigeria — Dennis Izuchukwu Okechi, a tricycle operator from the Umuawa Alaocha community, recounted harrowing details of his abduction by six armed bandits last Wednesday. The incident occurred around 3 p.m. as Okechi and farmer Onyinyechi Ekechukwu were returning from their fields.
The pair were forcibly taken into the bush by the assailants, who subsequently inflicted injuries on both victims. Okechi, speaking from a hospital bed, detailed how the bandits demanded a ransom of 10 million naira while threatening his life for using the Igbo language during a phone call to his community.
“I quickly used the Igbo language to alert my people about our location in the Udengwu forest,” Okechi said. He noted that his communication aided in pinpointing their whereabouts. However, the bandits became furious upon hearing him speak Igbo, seizing his phone and threatening to kill him if he did not switch to English.
Following the kidnapping, the community’s security team launched a search operation. Okechi expressed gratitude to local youths and leaders for their efforts, stating that the bandits abandoned the victims upon realizing that a crowd from the community was approaching.
“They spoke a strange language and identified themselves as bandits,” he said. “When they noticed a large number of my people coming, they fled into another part of the bush.”
In response to the attack, Obi Aguocha, the representative for the Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, condemned the kidnapping and called for heightened vigilance in Ohuhu and other regions of Igboland.
