Edwin Clark Released By Kidnappers..Recounts Experience

MR. Ebikeme Clark, son of Ijaw national leader, Chief Edwin Clark, who was kidnapped last week in Delta State, has been released.

Delta State Police Commissioner, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, meanwhile, said that the leader of the kidnap gang, identified as Joshua and another man who provided the boat used to whisk Ebikeme to the kidnappers’ den and several others, had been arrested by the police, which is continuing with the investigation despite the release.

He said: “Based on intelligence, the Area Commander swooped on the leader of the gang and the man who provided the boat. Before they knew it, it was the kidnappers that were begging and that was how Ebikeme was released.

“As far as we are concerned, we have made more arrests. The ring leader, Joshua, is with us. The man who provided the boat and some other associates are in our custody. We are happy that members of the public, Delta Waterways Security Committee, DWSC, Tompolo (Government Ekpemupolo) and the military, all mobilised to effect his release.”

A highly placed security source who confided in Vanguard, yesterday, said: “Ebikeme was hurriedly released by the kidnappers because of the siege by the police, DWSC, Warri; Tompolo, and other former Niger Delta agitators and Ijaw youths, who combed everywhere for them.”

Ebikeme confirmed his release at 7.30 a.m, yesterday, in a chat with Vanguard.

Meanwhile, the Ijaw Youth Council, IYC, worldwide, has described the release of Ebikeme as a triumph for the collective will against criminality.

Spokesman of IYC, Eric Omare, in a statement, said that the decision of Ijaw youths to join forces with security agencies in the search for the abducted son of the Ijaw leader was a clear demonstration that crime could only thrive in a society where it is condoned and given tacit support by members of the society.

A source said that Chief Clark was briefed as soon as information came that his son had been freed by the kidnappers at a community in Bomadi Local Government Area of the state.

It was gathered that the kidnappers gave Ebikeme  N5,000 for his transport, before fleeing.

My experience, by Ebikeme

Speaking after his release, Ebikeme said: “It is a clear case of kidnapping for ransom. Somebody from my village kept watch on me for two months. They took me from my village towards Bayelsa State axis. They believed that they will be able to extort money from my father and me, personally.

“I was disappointed that they will kidnap somebody like me, the son of Chief Clark after all that my father is doing for the development of the Niger Delta and the country. Can you imagine, they spoke to my father rudely on the phone, saying they did not care about him being their father, that all they wanted was for him to pay ransom.

“On Saturday night, I believe they were under pressure as they were moving me from one hide out to another. I found myself in several places. A call came to them that they should drop me within three hours, I think it was from Tompolo and they began to beg me thereafter, that they are in trouble and that I should help them.”

Ebikeme said he was surprised his captors were more afraid for their lives under threat than him, who they were holding captive.

“The one that hit my head with a gun knelt down and begged me that I should not allow him to go to jail.

They were all saying that they were in trouble and that I should plead for mercy for them. I saw that they were all disgruntled that at the end of the day, they did not take anything from my kidnap, they were calling millions, as if it was very easy to make money.

I think they had planned to buy cars and do many things with the ransom they planned to collect with the way they were lamenting about the misfortune that suddenly befell them.

“The kidnappers asked me to help them beg government for amnesty and that they should not kill them and their family members. At a stage, I was now the person that was consoling them.”

Ebikeme commended the Delta Waterways Security Committee for its efforts in securing his release, adding that the committee arrested all the family members of the kidnappers they could locate, noting that same weakened his abductors.