Kidnapped Journalist Released In Abia State

A five-day ordeal in the hands of abductors ended yesterday for  The Nation’s Abia State Correspondent, Mr. Ugochukwu Ugorji-Eke.

He was abducted last Sunday in front of his home in Aba.

“He’s back,” a family member said last night.

She gave no details of Mr. Ugorji-Eke’s release.

Some lawyers, including Nigeria Bar Association (NBA) Aba Branch Chairman Chiedozie Ogunji, had earlier condemned the abduction,  saying “the gradual breakdown of law and order is shocking to everybody and I don’t know who to lay the blame on”.

“It means that we have come to the end of the world, if judicial officers, lawyers and journalists are no longer safe in the state. To me, these are a special group of people whose work is very special.

”When it gets to the point that the assault and insecurity get to them, it means that we have got to the end of the world. For me, it is something to worry about. If gold could rust, then what of iron. If journalists and lawyers could be kidnapped, that means that the common man is no longer safe.

”We condemn in a very strong term the kidnapping of people who provide essential services to the state and the country at large because these (journalists, judicial officers and Lawyers) are the eyes of the people and the nation and any assault on them is a direct assault on the country.

”The world all over, there are certain areas even criminality is not allowed to get to journalists or persons who provide essentials of a democratic nation like the journalist and judicial officers. It is taking liberty too far. We call on both the state and federal government to step up security and then safeguard the persons who are living in the confines of the expression called Abia State.

”We also ask that they (kidnappers) should integrate themselves into the modern society. Government should as much as possible provide employment for the teeming youths in bringing about these insecurity in the bud so that we can have a pleasurable and enjoyable state to live in,” Ogunji advised.

Rights activist and lawyer Morakinyo Ogele condemned the kidnap of  Ugorji-Eke.

Ogele who said kidnapping a journalist or any other individual is a criminal offence.

Speaking on Thursday, Ogele lamented the failure of governments at all levels to provide security for citizens of the country.

Ogele regretted that criminals are having a field day and are wreaking havoc in many parts of the country on the hapless citizens because those saddled with the responsibility of protecting them have failed woefully in their duties.

He regretted that journalists whom he described as nation builders have become endangered species in the performance of their duties of giving information to their fellow countrymen.