THE All Progressives Congress (APC), Abia State chapter chairman, Hon. Donatus Nwankpa on Thursday night, regained his freedom from his abductors. Nwankpa was kidnapped on Monday, January 28 while on his way from Umuahia to Aba, the commercial nerve of the state, ahead of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit.
According to reports making rounds in the state, the APC chairman was reunited with family at about 10pm Thursday night.
There hasn’t been official comment by the family, but the state Publicity Secretary, Comrade Benedict Godson confirmed his release and added that the state chairman was in good health. Unconfirmed information has it that the kidnappers after kidnapping Nwankpa, took him to a location suspected to be Eberi Omuma where they made the initial contact with the family.
Corroborating the release of the chairman, Mr. Orji Chigozirim, the Chief of Staff to Nwankpa debunked the claims that Nwankpa was carrying huge sums of money on the day he was kidnapped. Chigozirim however lamented the inability of the policemen on duty on the expressway to react prompt which he maintained could have saved the chairman from being whisked away unchallenged.
Chigozirim said the purpose of the kidnap was to prevent the chairman from being present during the President’s visit. He said: “The hoodlums, we gathered flashed their torches and as a law-abiding citizens, he tried to stop thinking that they were policemen and by the time that he realized that they weren’t policemen, he tried to move, but they shot at the tyre which impact damaged the radiator and the fan belt, bringing the car to a halt. “When they noticed that the driver of the car was still forcing the car to move, they shattered the glasses and later took the chairman and a staff of the secretariat away.