From GEOFFREY ANYANWU, Awka
Friday, June 03, 2011



Former state chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA) in Anambra, Chief Frank Igboka, braved the odds in the early hours of yesterday, rescuing himself from the hands of kidnappers and seizing an AK47 riffle from the gang.

Igboka, who was also an ex-chief whip of Anambra State House of Assembly was said to have been abducted at about 9a.m near his home, Nimo in Njikoka Local Government Area by the eight-man kidnap gang while driving in his 406 Peugeot car and forced into one of the black Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) the criminals were operating in.
But luck shined on him when, close to Neni Junction, his abductors spotted a police checkpoint and made a quick u-turn giving the former lawmaker who is heavily built and already struggling with them the opportunity to fall off the vehicle alongside one of the kidnappers.

In the process, he was said to have forcefully seized the criminal’s AK47 rifle from him, opened fire on them, forcing the kidnapper to jump into their vehicle and they sped off before the police arrived the scene and finally rescued him. Narrating his miraculous escape to newsmen at the police headquarters yesterday, Igboka, who was still in shock in his roughened T-shirt and on barefoot said he thought he was in a dreamland before the arrival of the police.
He said, “My brothers, I have no mouth to talk to you. The glory should go to God first. I thought I was in a dreamland within those few minutes before the police arrived.

“I was driving my 406 vehicle near my place when these people swooped on me, dragged me out of the vehicle and drove off, so on getting near the junction of Neni, they sighted police checkpoint and turned immediately. Before then, I had noticed that they were jittery and I started to struggle with them inside the vehicle.
“Luckily, I fell off the vehicle when it turned with one of the kidnappers and being bigger than him, I quickly took the gun and opened fire immediately, the boy quickly ran into the jeep and they sped off. I would not say if I did wound any of them.”

Confirming the incident, the state Police Commissioner, Murktar Ibrahim, noted that his command was at alert and needed only information to function well, adding that he had already deployed over 1,000 policemen to search for the hoodlums.

CP Ibrahim who gave the number of the 60 round AK47 rifle with three magazines recovered from the kidnappers as 1993-AFA3254, said, “there will not be any hiding place for those criminals again in Anambra State. We are going to make the state a crime-free state. These people should know that Anambra is no longer safe for them.”
Similarly, the Commander of the State Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), Sir Felix Kigigha has disclosed that the command has arrested seven out of the eight-man kidnap gang that terrorised the state early last week with the other killed in a gun battle with members of the squad.

Kigigha said three of the suspects were arrested with serious bullet wounds at Paradise Hotel, Obosi through a tip-off, giving their names as Chinedu Uchechukwu, Fidelis Egbigbe, Lambert Aleba and Emmanuel Okoye.
The other three, Nnamdi Johnbosco from Amaku Igbo in Echie Council Area of Rivers State, Nweke Lawson from Ezza Council Area of Ebonyi and Chukwuma Agbowo, he said, were arrested at their hideout while their victim, the Director of Personnel/Head of Service (HOS), Ibaji Council Area of Kogi State, Abubarka Haruna was rescued.

We must all show courage and fight back against these kidnappers.

bros, abeg, drop d link

k.
once a gangster, always s gangster. na only jaguda fit pull dat stunt.