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Ayogu Escapes Death

Enugu State’s former Commissioner for Environment, Ambassador Fidel Ayogu’s younger brother, Nathaniel Ayogu has revealed his ordeal in the hands of herdsmen who kidnapped him.

He said; “I trekked on barefoot for three days in the bush without food or water. I was tied to a tree and abandoned each time it rained while my abductors covered themselves with waterproof materials.”

“One of the gunmen told me that he joined kidnapping business to fend for himself, as his late father’s cattle were shared when he was still a teenager without him getting any, a situation which the gunman said exposed him to economic hardship.”

“My friend, late Job Ali, visited me at about 5p.m. in the evening on the day I was kidnapped. We had finished drinking when he told me that he wanted to leave.”

“I pleaded with him to exercise patience so we can eat and stroll together. He just came out to ease himself and met the hoodlums. They started shooting sporadically and shot him in the stomach.”

“I stood up when I heard the sound of gunshots. I noticed that they have cordoned off my house. They had Army and AK-47 rifles. They were six in number. Then, I decided to run for my dear life.”

“One of them chased me and threatened to shoot me. When I looked back, I saw one of them holding my child. This made me to come back to meet them.”

“The one that chased me continued to threaten to shoot and I dispossessed him of the gun, but I fell down in the process and he collected it back from me.”

“At that time, his members have ransacked my house, taking all my money. They started beating me with machetes and ordered me to follow them. I asked them where they were taking me to and they said ‘Let us go and see Oga’.”

“They dragged me into the bush and we started the journey from there. This was happening at about 7p.m. in the evening.”

“When we got to the bush, they told me that they were kidnappers and demanded that I should cooperate. They asked me to call my brothers, that was when I told them that I was the eldest son.”

“They gave me my daughter’s phone, which they took from the house, and I called my wife to inform her that I am alive.”

Besides, his friend, Job Ali who was with him when the gunmen stormed his house was not lucky as he died at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital (UNTH), Ituku Ozalla from the gunshot wound he sustained from the hoodlums.

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