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 told The Nation 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
with The Nation in
Ado-Ekiti 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.
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