Renowned author, Elechi Amadi, abducted, freed

The rash of kidnappings in the Niger Delta has entered into the new year with two prominent indigenes of the region— Dr. Elechi Amadi and Chief Nelson Efiong— being the latest victims

Amadi, a renowned author, academic and Chairman of the Rivers State Scholarship Board, was seized from his Mbodo Aluu residence on Monday night by heavily armed gunmen. Effiong, the immediate past Speaker of the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly, was kidnapped on Sunday in Oron.

The incidents were confirmed on Tuesday by the Spokesman for the Joint Task Force in Rivers State, Lt. Col. Sagir Musa, and the Akwa Ibom State Police Pubic Relations Officer, Mr. Gab Ngban.

Musa later told our correspondents around 9pm that the author was released by the gunmen with no ransom paid.

“He is back in his home in Mbodo Aluu(near Port Harcourt). He is in a stable condition,” he said.

Rivers State Governor Rotimi Amaechi, his Bayelsa State counterpart, Mr. Timipre Sylva, and the Rivers State chapter of the Association of Nigerian Authors had earlier called for the Septuagenarian’s immediate release.

Amadi, a former Commissioner of Education in Rivers State, is the author of many novels and plays, including, “The Concubine,” “The Great Ponds,” and “The Slave,” which centre on the life and values of the traditional village society.

He has written many poems, most of which deal with people that try to change their course of life but failed.

On September 25, 2008, top literary figures within and outside the country, including Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, foremost Ghanaian Prof. Kofi Awoonor, gathered in Port Harcourt to celebrate his contribution to literature and learning.

The programme was organised under the auspices of the Garden City Literary Festival and Book Fair by the Association of Nigerian Authors, Rainbow Foundation and the Rivers State Government.

Reacting, Amaechi described the abduction of the elder statesman as not only a shame but an insult on the psyche of the River State indigenes.

The governor had in a statement by his Acting Chief Press Secretary, Mr. Blessing Winika, called on “those who were holding him to release him immediately for him to continue his duties of educating the younger generation which is part of his undying passion.”

He had said, “It is shameful that while our intellectuals are celebrated all over the world by their contemporaries and those who appreciate greatness, here we make them objects of shame, humiliation and disgrace by people who call themselves Niger Delta freedom fighters.”

Amaechi added that the rationale behind the Niger Delta struggle would be further defeated if “prized intellectuals are made to face shame and humiliation.”

The governor cautioned the abductors to ensure that Amadi had access to his drugs since he is an asthmatic patient.

Sylva, who also denounced the abduction of the novelist, said, “Amadi is a world literary figure and an icon of the Niger Delta and one of those the world looks up to in trying to appreciate the social reality in the region.

“This treatment meted out to him certainly diminishes the Niger Delta struggle before the world. It also reduces us as a people and must be condemned in the strongest term possible.”

The governor appealed to Niger Delta youths to eschew criminality and embark on activities that would make them reap from the wind of change in the country.

“It would be bad for us if our leaders of tomorrow let these opportunities pass us by. For us in Bayelsa State, our doors are open to receive all our children who share our vision of change in the Niger Delta,” he said.

Also, the writers in Rivers State said it was regrettable for anybody to think of kidnapping Amadi, whom it described as “a harmless man.”

The writers who spoke through their Chairman, Mr. Nyeso Minima,had disclosed that their executive committee would meet to consider how to secure Amadi’s release.

He said, “It is a condemnable act against an innocent person; somebody, who is harmless. We are going to meet and decide on some steps to take to ensure his immediate release.

“We call on the kidnappers to free him unconditionally and without hurt. It is sad that they have no respect for age and the contribution he has made to this state and this country.”

In Uyo, the Akwa Ibom State capital, the Spokesman for the state Police Command, Mr. Ngban, said the police had put everything in place to ensure the release of the former Speaker of the state Assembly, Mr. Effiong.

Ngban said the command would brief journalists on the many security issues affecting the state, including the kidnap of the former Speaker.

The incumbent Speaker, Mr. Ignatius Edet, who had earlier expressed sadness over the incident, disclosed that the Assembly was planning to pass a bill on anti-kidnapping.

Our correspondent in Uyo learnt on Tuesday that the gunmen trailed the ex-lawmaker to his house in Oron before dragging him into a waiting vehicle.

It was also gathered that the bandits had demanded N100m from Effiong’s family before they could release him.

Meanwhile, the nursery school in Bayelsa State where a parent foiled an attempt to kidnap a child has reopened with armed soldiers stationed at its gates.

The soldiers were seen by our correspondent in Yenagoa controlling vehicular movements on the popular Imgbi Road where the school is located.

There had been anxiety in the city since December 2008 when the upsurge in child abductions force many schools to shelve the end-of-year celebrations for their pupils.

A vigilant parent had engaged the kidnappers of a three-year-old son of an aide to the state‘s Commissioner of Finance and Budget in a scuffle as they forced the kid into a waiting car.

source:the punch