Bandits threatened to shoot me for speaking Igbo – Umuahia kidnapping victim.

Mr Dennis Izuchukwu Okechi, an indigene of the Umuawa Alaocha community in Ohuhu, Umuahia North LGA of Abia State, revealed that the six bandits who kidnapped him last Wednesday threatened to shoot him dead for speaking Igbo on the phone to his people.

Okechi, a tricycle operator, and Mrs. Onyinyechi Ekechukwu, a farmer, were seized on their way back from the farm and dragged into the bush at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday. They were rescued by the Umuawa Alaocha community security outfit at about midnight that same day.

While in pain from his hospital bed, Okechi recounted that the bandits inflicted several wounds on him and Mrs. Ekechukwu before ordering him to call his people to arrange a N10 million ransom.

He said he quickly used Igbo to communicate the location where he was being held in the Udengwu forest to his people.

The Umuawa Alaocha indigene disclosed that the bandits seized his phone in anger and threatened to kill him if he did not speak English.

“Once they handed me my phone to call my people, I quickly used the Igbo language to alert them about the area where the bandits had dragged me and Auntie Onyinyechi. I quickly told them that I was being held in the Udengwu area, and this helped my people to know the location where we were being held,” Okechi said.

“But the bandits became angry at me for not speaking English so that they could hear what I told my people. They threatened to shoot me,” he added.

The rescued Umuawa Alaocha indigene expressed gratitude to the youths and leaders of his community for combing the bush to rescue them. He said those who kidnapped them spoke a strange language and boldly identified themselves as “bandits.”

He further said, “When the bandits noticed that a large number of my people were approaching the location where we were being held, they abandoned us and fled through another path in the bush.”

Meanwhile, the member representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Obi Aguocha, condemned the attack on his Ohuhu community. Aguocha, who spoke after the rescue of the two victims, called for vigilance in Ohuhu and other parts of Igboland.