An Aba Chief Magistrate in Abia State has remanded a native doctor and six other persons in prison custody over alleged kidnapping.

The seven persons arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy to commit felony and kidnapping were alleged to have been involved in the abduction of a female member of staff of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA) Channel 6, Aba, Mrs. Linda Osuala.

After the kidnap incident, a team of Anti-Robbery Squad from the Aba Area Police Command, led by ASP Anari Anari raided a forest between Umuezi Mgboko and Okpuala communities in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State, where Mrs Osuala was held hostage by her abductors, necessitating her release.

During the raid that lasted over six hours, police arrested 15 suspects, including a native doctor who was alleged to be involved in the preparation of charms for the kidnappers. After investigations, eight of the suspects were released while the remaining seven were charged to court.

When the police prosecutor, Victor Mbama read the charge the accused persons could not enter their pleas because the offence upon conviction carries capital punishment and as such could not be entertained by a Magistrate Court.
Accordingly, the Chief Magistrate K. I. Udo informed the parties that his court had no jurisdiction to entertain criminal cases with capital punishment(s) and ordered that the case be transferred to the Director of Public Prosecution (DPP) for legal advice.

Udo, however, fixed September 19 for report on compliance to the directives of the court and to allow the prosecutor to properly hand over the case to the DPP.

Another kidnapping case:

After parting with a hard N1million, my friend's dad was allowed to go yesterday. He was also a victim of the mass kidnapping that took place two weeks ago. When we heard of his release, we went to see him and he narrated his ordeal to us. ** The camp where they were kept was situated at Asa village in interior Ngwa community, also in Aba. There were around 5 camps. He was able to tell because orders were shouted now and then to go bring someone from camp this or that, that his relatives have paid. These camps were previously residential buildings, but the owners have fled for their lives long ago. For food, they only ate enough to keep the worms at bay. Every victim has a ransom of N1m tied to him, it doesn't matter if you're worth it or not. No. Although they were blindfolded, the things he heard could make a nightmare for 50 people. If you try to remove the blindfold, you get a shot in the leg straight away. If you bargain poorly, you get up to thirty minutes beating. A popular steel magnate, Prince C.C. Infor Plc, is currently going through rounds of beating for asking to pay N500,000. They're about to retain a graduate of medicine who was kidnapped doing menial job in the Timber market, since he can't pay up. They only started kidnapping women because they won't stop gossiping. If the woman is young, they gang-r@p£ her and set her free. If aged, she gets the day light beaten out of her. Whenever money comes in there is a sporadic shots of celebration for about 30 minutes. . .I can't finish the whole story once but let me add this warning: They still have unfinished business at the Timber market. After that comes the big one -- Ariaria International Market! If you've been to that market before, you'll know what the casualty figure is going to be like. As for the governor of Abia State, I can only say: you shall reap whatever you sow.

Na wa ooooo

The Police Area Commander in Aba, Abia, ACP Rabiu Dayi, on Monday said that the police rescued a kidnapped business man in the town.

Dayi told newsmen in Aba that the police smashed had a gang of kidnappers terrorising Aba.

“We called you up this morning to show you another achievement we have recorded in crime fighting in Aba.

“Two kidnappers were gunned down by my men last week.

“Yesterday (Sunday) at about 10.a.m, a young businessman, whose name I will not mention for security reasons, went to No. 36 Omenazu Street, off Faulks Road, Aba to cut his hair.

“Four armed young men in a white-coloured Toyota Hilux van followed him into the salon and kidnapped him on gun point.

“When I got the information around 1.00 p.m., we started searching for information.

“We were reliably informed that the man was taken to Nwakanma’s compound at Amavo, Osisioma Ngwa Local Government Area, along Enugu-Port Harcourt expressway,” Dayi said.

The commander said that the police trailed the kidnappers to the compound which was alleged to be used by kidnappers as hideout.

According to him, in an early morning gun battle between the police and the gang, one person was killed while some others escaped with bullet wounds.

Dayi said that the victim was rescued unhurt while the police recovered two AK 47 riffles with 49 rounds of ammunitions and two motorcycles from the hideout.

The commander called on residents of Abia and neighbouring states to be watchful and to report any body with bullet wounds to the nearest police station for further action.

The commander urged people to be careful and to inform the police if they found any vehicle trailing them.

He said that members of the gang that robbed people at gunpoint at Iheorji in Aba South Local Government Area had been caught and would be charged to court.

Dayi, however, said that many cases were being stalled in courts in Aba because people were afraid of testifying against criminals, adding that such stance made things hard to try criminals in the area.

Dayi said people who testified in courts and volunteered information that would help to get judgments against criminals threatening the peace of the society, would get ``full protection''. (NAN)

Aba was once rated as the commercial nerve centre of the east and alongside Lagos, Onitsha, Port Harcourt and Abuja as the five commercial nerve centres of the nation by the TIME INTERNATIONAL MAGAZINE. Aba used to make up 90% of the $8.69billion Abia G.D.P, not any more.
Today, the story has changed. Shops that used to flourish are now serving as branch offices. All the major players in the society have left town, houses are padlocked, offices closed, banking activities scaled down, hospitals closed. As we write no single new building is being developed in the entire city. All prominent doctors are gone, all major lawyers are gone, all prominent importers are gone, all prominent industrialists are gone, all major entrepreneurs are gone, and all foreign technical factory experts are gone. No sane person allows any of his or her family members to be posted to Aba any more. Non indigenes are leaving in drove.
As we write, the banks in Aba are contemplating closing most of their branches; most of them as a matter of fact have trimmed down drastically their operations as 80% of Aba account holders now do their transactions outside Aba. Bank of Industries at No.1 Asa Rd has relocated to Asaba, ECO Bank has permanently closed their Osissioma branch while 7 other banks along Osissioma has temporally closed shop. 90% of the bank workers in Aba have applied for transfer. Center for Management (CMD) has relocated to Owerri. The whole white missionaries at Church of Later Day Saints left Aba by 3 A.M under heavy military escort abandoning one of their most beautiful temples in Africa and their West African Headquarters. Work at the Osissioma end of the Eungu Port Harcourt Express Way was stopped because one of the white engineers was kidnapped. The Eungu-Aba-Port Harcourt and the Aba-Ikot Ikpene Express Ways are now dead zones and no go areas.
Picture of the point where telecom workers were massacred
From intelligence information we gathered, their next target is going to be Club side coming into Aba for the Globalcom National Professional League. Parents should warn their children not to follow any team to Aba and the NPL is now warned that Aba is not safe, CAF should also take note. Whoever encourages anybody to ignore this warning should be hold responsible for any lost of life. Victims of kidnappers overheard them discussing these things openly. If you watched Enyimba match last season you will discover that the crowd has dropped by 80%. As at the last count 67 hotels have closed down in Aba. All because kidnappers and gangsters have taken over the city while the state and federal government decided to watch and do nothing.
Sicily – Italy sounds like a child’s play compared to what has been happening in Aba. Landlords are abandoning their houses looking for accommodation elsewhere. Human beings are being slaughtered in such a manner that will make the lion to envy us. Young girls and old women are being raped. No Hollywood script writer can ever have the imagination to pen down what Aba has turned into. Somali and Sudan combined are far better than the Aba, because the people are at war and they knew it and do not kill their own people. That is why the Aba story is different.
You must have heard about what is going on in Aba, but the truth of the matter is that the number of kidnapping, killing with impunity going on in the city is not being fully reported. What goes out to the public is just about 5% of actual activities going on in Aba. This is because the state Chief executive of the State out of fear of State of Emergency being declared in Abia State has been seriously suppressing the Aba ugly tale.
On a minimum average, over 40 people are being kidnapped daily at Aba, so if you want to start the story of Aba, you start from the most recent in order not to bore your audience.
On Thursday Sept. 9, kidnappers who have colonized the Aba-Port Harcourt Express Way started shooting indiscriminately with their machine guns to vehicles on the highway. As a result, they were able to demobilize 8 vehicles and the few who refuse to stop were gunned down and killed instantly. Some of the passengers ran inside the bush, the other 20 who were unlucky were marched into the bush. The annoying aspect of it all was that few meters away there was a police road block and as usual they were busy collecting N20 from motorists and felt totally less concerned of the kidnapping activities.
After marching a few meters into the bush, the kidnappers said they want to show their victims that they mean business and to demonstrate that they ordered one innocent looking man to march out as he obeyed and stepped forward, four of them emptied their machine bullets on him. They ordered their victims to dig a grave as they brought out four shovels and after digging they dumped the man inside and ordered them to close it. Now that was when their main ordeal started, as they walked about 45 minutes inside the bush, one of their victims told us that he counted three major villages and that all of them have been completely deserted as animals now roam freely.
On getting to a point they separated the males from the females and started raping the women and these are women in their late fifties and some above sixty and young ladies about 9 of them. They were raped turn by turn without any protection. After that, the kidnappers marched their victims to another spot where a burnt vehicle belonging to the Bakassi boys was packed. They once more singled out another victim and asked him “how much will you give us?’ The man said that between his two accounts that he can immediately mobilize N200, 000. They were so outraged with the man that they brought out a knife and started slicing the man’s head with it. And the man’s screams attracted another round of beating until the blood that was gushing out become uncontrollably, they now dumped the man after they had forced him to double his offer.
The next unfortunate victim was a Reverend gentleman; they ordered him to march out and requested to know how much he will give them. The man who was clothed with his religious attire explained to them that he has no money. They inquired from him who owned the vehicle he was riding on; he responded that it belongs to the ministry he was working for. He was ordered to inform his ministry people to come and bail him out. As he was about to respond, they pumped several bullets at close range to his head. These evil minds starting making a show of it as they were laughing and joking about how the man screamed and died, making mockery that his God did not save him.
Once more, they ordered their remaining victims to dig a grave at a spot and without digging deep, they were shocked to realize that several other corpses were buried there. Sensing the fear of their victims, they proudly announced that the place is where they buried their so called Bakassi boys. One of their victims who narrated this story to us was able to count around 20 other makeshift graves around. To cut a long story short, they ended up killing five of their victims who did not make them reasonable offer. As they were boasting that they have sacked over 50 villages around Ukwa East and Ukwa West L.Gs. On average, over 30 people are kidnapped along the Ukwa axis of Abia State daily.
On Thursday 23rd of September, the kidnappers were flagging down a bus coming from Port Harcourt at Obehe, the driver refused to stop and as usual, they started shooting at the bus and 18 passengers died on the spot, others sustained fatal wounds.
From Ukwa we move down to Osissioma L.G. All the areas along the Aba-Enugu express way have been totally taken over by kidnappers. They have over powered the policemen and as we write the lowest estimate of policemen killed by the kidnappers within the last one month should be around 20. This figure is just within the Osissioma axis alone. In terms of human population killed in Osissioma, they are far above 2,700 persons.
A lawyer who was kidnapped and kept for four days narrated his experience of how he was tied on a tree for good two days. And in those two days they poured cocoyam water on him, and look for harmful creeping insects which they equally use on him. And it was after these two days that they opened their demand. He noticed that there were about 13 different camps and new groups springing up and their overall leader was a young lady in her early thirties. Apart from those who normally move out and come back, he counted about 100 other boys and girls who are operating in the camp. In most cases, out of force and threat to their life they try to convert their victims into informants. After collecting money from you, they will subject you to such a level of inhuman act and in most cases they end up killing those who could not give the accurate information about whom else to kidnap.

How to delete comment?

I am in Aba and do not ascertain were you got this information,I stay in an industrial area were most big companies in aba are situated and will not buy this your fake story because this companies are doing well.7up plc and NB plc are presently pumping millions of dollars in upgrading their production facilities in aba(am a project staff with one of the companies handling this projects) and can also tell you that we are working with many white men and this companies also have numerous white men working in their aba plants.
Things are not this bad,the only problem we have is infrastructure and levies imposed by the state government on the populace. The state governor have tried in providing adequate security in aba compared to what was obtainable in 2010.
Mind you am an abian(not a fan of T.A,u can check my posts).
Ngwa(Abia south,am half ngwa) are the major problem of Abia state,have you asked yourself why kidnapin and robberies hardly occur in abia north and umuahia part of abia central? (A home work for you)
The state Governor cannot do everything but the little input from our traditional rulers and the citizens will go a long way in making aba a better place.
most of the organisations that relocated are coming back,I am from abia north and if you are actually based in Aba you will know that most of the big importers (apart from anambra indigines)in aba are from old bende and I can authoritatively tell u that the major problem the complain about is bad road. Are you trying to say that with the numerous military pressence in Aba-port harcout express way all this is happening? Or that the governor also hide this info from the citizens of Aba? (Have numerous family members in
the two major markets in Aba and such news cannot be a secret in a trading environment),
My points: (1) Aba security situation is not this bad (Aba is not crime free though,there are rare cases of kidnapin and honestly,the military and police have been living upto expectation)
I am not a security agent but I have a close family member who is a high rank officer that will not hesitate to let the immediate family know at least.
(2)The major course of banks closing their branches is due to the cashless policy of the FG.
(3)I guess you are member of an opposition party.
(3)Or u do not stay in Aba but your story was based on the 2010 security situation in Aba.(Honestly,you are a good writer)