GUNMEN who kidnapped a journalist, Chuks Onuoha, in Umungasi, Umuagu, Ohuhu in Umuahia North Local Government Area of Abia State, have demanded N10 million ransom.
Onuoha, the Editor of All Facts Newspaper, was abducted on Tuesday night by hoodlums who scaled the fence to enter his home.
It was learnt that the gunmen took Onuoha away in his vehicle to an unknown destination.
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The abductors were said to have contacted the journalist’s family and demanded a ransom of N10 million.
The President-General of the Umungasi community, Suleiman Anyalewechi, confirmed the journalist’s abduction.
He told PUNCH that he was contacted by the secretary of the community, who informed him that some men had taken Onuoha away.
Anyalewechi noted that nobody knew the details of the incident until the kidnappers established contact with the family.
The wife of the kidnapped journalist, Udodirim, told a delegation led by the chairman of the Abia State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Victor Ndukwe, that her husband was whisked away by three armed men who entered their house at about 10:45 pm on Tuesday.
“One of them said to me, ‘madam, don’t panic,” she said, adding that they took her husband away in his Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) along with his two mobile handsets and ATM card.
She said the men later made contact on the phone and demanded N10 million ransom before they would release the journalist.
Meanwhile, efforts made by The ICIR to contact the state Police Public Relations Officer, Geoffrey Ogbonna, were unsuccessful.
The Abia State police spokesman did not respond to calls and messages sent to his phone by The ICIR’s reporter.
A reporter with the ICIR
A Journalist with a niche for quality and a promoter of good governance