An activist, Dr. Ime Stephen, who escaped from the Kidnappers den on Saturday, has said he would no longer pursue the kidnap case involving a 15-year-old Mary Udo, who was allegedly raped at gunpoint by a police inspector in Akwa Ibom State.
Stephen, who was kidnapped from his house on Tuesday around 3am, told journalists on Saturday he had dropped Udo’s case including other cases he intended to bring against Nigeria Police for human rights abuses.
He said, “I can’t really say or speculate the people behind my kidnapping. Investigation is already on and I leave that one for the security operatives. There was a rape case of a 15-year old girl, Mary Udo, who was allegedly defiled by a police inspector that I have been following up. And since then, a lot of things have been happening to me.
“My abductors clearly asked me to leave all the cases I have been handling. I have dropped all these cases for the sake of my life and my family. All these things are happening to me because I committed myself to the defence of the defenceless,” he said.
PUNCH Metro had on Wednesday, August 15, reported that the human rights activist, who had been fighting for justice for Udo, was whisked away by some masked gunmen.
“One of the kidnappers spoke in Ijaw language and blended it with English but they didn’t know I could hear them as they thought the injection I was given was still active.
“I heard one of them saying that I should not be killed because it will be a problem for them as some people have seen them already. This brought argument among them and one of them shot the other and he died at the spot. Although, I was blindfolded I knew that was what happened.
“I want to still call on the Inspector General of Police, the SSS and relevant security operatives to wade into this matter and launch intensive investigation. I have been shouting and crying all these while that my life is in danger but nothing was done about it. Several assassination attempts have been made on my life before I was eventually kidnapped.”
On his escape from the abductors, he said, “I will say it is God’s grace. They were transferring me from one place to the other. And then they took me to one uncompleted building in Nsit Ubium along Oron Road. The place is called Akai and it is slightly isolated because houses are not close to one another.
“They tied me up, both legs and hands, and left me in order to come for me later. Sometimes they go out to smoke and do some other things before returning. I was then fortunate that the sedation cleared from my eyes a little and I began to shout for help with my last strength.
“A cyclist heard my voice and came to my rescue. He managed to lose my legs but couldn’t lose my hands that were tied to my back. It was in the night and he then took me to the police post in the area before I was handed over to the highway patrol team.
“It was at the police post that my hands were loosen. The boy who rescued me was also frightened as he was taking me to the police post so that we don’t run into the kidnappers who dumped me there,” he said.
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