On 2 June, the Anambra State Police Command foiled the kidnap of the former State chairman of the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), who is also a former Chief Whip of the State House of Assembly, Hon. Frank Anthony Igboka, in Anambra State.

An eight-man gang had seized Igboka near his home in Nimo, Njikoka Local Government Area, and bundled him into one of the black Sport Utility Vehicles (SUV) they were using for their operation. However, at Neni junction in Anaocha Local Government Area, the fleeing gang spotted a police checkpoint. Their frantic attempt to make a quick U-turn gave the former lawmaker, who is heavily built, an opportunity to struggle with his captors in a bid to bolt from the vehicle.

In the struggle, he fell off the vehicle, with one of the kidnappers tumbling down with him. He succeeded in seizing the kidnapper’s AK-47 rifle with three magazines which had fallen off him, but the hoodlum was able to jump back into the SUV as it sped off, before the police arrived.

Narating his experience, Igboka said: “I was driving my (Peogeot) 406 vehicle when these people swooped on me, dragged me out of the vehicle and drove off. So, on getting near Neni junction, they sighted a police check point 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 with one of the kidnappers. But the boy ran into the jeep and they sped off”.

He said: “My brother, I have no mouth to talk to you now.The glory should go to God first. I thought I was in a dream land within those few minutes before the police arrived”.

The Commissioner of Police in Anambra State, Mr Murktar Ibrahim, confirmed the incident to newsmen. He gave the number of the AK47 rifle recovered from the kidnappers as 1993-AFA3254.