Tragic events befell abducted Alexander Ugwu and his cousin Elias Ugwu on their voyage, according to Vanguard news, as their endeavor to save each other proved to be fatal.
Alexander was kidnapped by heavily armed Fulani herders on his way from Iheakpu-oka hamlet to Anyigba, which marked the beginning of the journey. His captors held him for days and wanted a ransom of N10 million, which they eventually had to lower to N4 million. Elias, Alexander’s cousin, led the charge in organizing the rescue.
In his words, Alexander Ugwu recalled,
“On Saturday morning, 9th of March, we started communicating with my uncle unknown to us that there was a bank robbery on Thursday in Anyigba, and this (his release) was happening on Saturday morning.
So, the villagers who saw my uncle and his friend who were coming to rescue me, driving around, were the ones who called the police informing them that there is a vehicle that is roaming around the community through an escape road behind the university.
So, the policemen came and laid ambush. They parked their vehicle in the bush close to the road. When we were coming back, we saw a police vehicle packed distantly and we were happily approaching the vehicle. The next thing we heard was ‘stop’ and then the sound of gunshots and my brother was hit on his head. He lost control, so the vehicle veered into the bush. That was when one of the security people said they were police officers. I used a cloth to tie my uncle’s head because he was bleeding profusely. They tried to pull out the vehicle, but we could not. The police then used something to attach it to their Hilux to pull out the vehicle.
We already told them who we were, but it was already too late. They had finished searching the vehicle expecting to see a huge sum of money. The kind of clothes I wore made them realise that I was a victim of kidnap, they became tired. They took us to Maria Goretti Hospital in Anyigba.”
However, their joyous return home was abruptly interrupted by a team of policemen. Mistaking them for bandits, the officers opened fire, fatally shooting Elias. Alexander recounted the harrowing experience, describing how they heard the command to stop and the sound of gunshots. Elias sustained a severe head injury from the gunfire.
