70-Year-Old Anambra Journalist Kidnapped In Kogi

Seventy-year-old Mike Oguguo Ndu, from Ogbunike in Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, has allegedly been kidnapped by suspected bandits on Okene road in Kogi State.

Mr Ndu, who worked for the Monitor and the Enterprise Magazine in Uyo, Akwa-Ibom State, also worked for Madonna Fm, Okija, and Our Nation Newspaper, Onitsha, before his retirement.

His nephew, John Ndu, working for the Anambra State government, said the septuagenarian was kidnapped alongside other passengers on his way to Abuja to see his family members.

According to his nephew, “Mr Ndu, a retired journalist, boarded a Wazobia commercial bus at Onitsha to visit his sick wife in Abuja, but his journey was thwarted by some bandits who diverted their bus into a bush. The bus took off from Onitsha to Abuja around 7:20am on Monday, 21th December, 2020.

“Throughout his journey, his family members were in contact with him, until around 3pm when his phone was no longer reachable. Nobody heard from him again till Tuesday, 22nd December, 2020, when a strange number called his elder brother, Sir Joseph. C. Ndu, demanding a ransom of N50 million, failure to provide the ransom, his brother Mike would go down.”

His disclosed that Mike’s children living in Abuja had visited Wazobia park at Gwagwarada, Abuja, where the manager, one Mr Ifeanyi Smart, said the company would assist with every useful information, adding that the 70-year-old ‘is facing health challenges, including diabetes and hypertension, which may be aggravated by his present ugly condition. He is equally on daily medication’.

The family members therefore appealed to Nigerian security agencies to deploy their intelligence network to rescue the veteran.

As at the time of filing this report, feelers said no further contact had been made with the bandits as their contact phone number had been switched off.