Information reaching us has it that Mr Chuks Onuoha a journalist based in Abia State Southeast Nigeria has been kidnapped by armed men who gained entry into his home at Umungasi Ohuhu in Umuahia North local government and took him away in his jeep.
Onuoha, who is the editor-in-chief of All Facts Newspaper, an Umuahia based publication, was until last year, the state correspondent of Daily Sun Newspapers. Wife of the kidnapped journalist, Mrs. Udodirim Onuoha said that her husband was forcefully taken away by three armed men who entered their house at about 10.45pm on Tuesday while he was resting after returning from work.
She told a delegation of journalists led by the chairman of Abia State Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ), Comrade Victor Ndukwe, that she was also in the sitting room with her husband when the kidnappers slipped in through the back door. She said the first gun man that entered the house immediately pointed a gun at her husband and demanded for his phones and ATM card while the other gunmen emerged from different directions.
“One of them said to me, ‘madam don’t panic’,” she said, adding that they took her husband away in his jeep along with his two mobile handsets and ATM card. Mrs. Onuoha, who was visibly distraught, said that before the kidnappers left, they sternly warned the family against contacting the police if they want the journalist to remain alive.
She stated that the evil men later made contact on phone and demanded N10 million ransom before they would release their victim, adding that they later lowered their ransom demand to N2 million. Chairman of Abia NUJ, Comrade Ndukwe while comforting Mrs. Onuoha and members of her family, regretted that gunmen have now chosen to direct their nefarious activities at journalists.
