CALABAR: From Paradise City To Kidnappers’ Den

This is the trend of events in Calabar, the Cross River State capital in the past few years  with kidnapping taking place every every time and this  has effectively turned the city  from its once glorious status as the paradise city where many found solace and safety to an ignoble   den  of kidnappers and robbers who rob, abduct, kill and maim  at will.

Teachers, medical doctors, pastors, motor mechanics, drivers, journalists, students and anyone who can afford a few  thousands are all targets. This is different from  kidnappers  in other places who target the rich and expatriates with big bank accounts who could  cough out millions of money as ransom.  Here in Calabar, it is indeed a case of just anyone with few bucks to settle the boys.

It is difficult to run a comprehensive  register of those who have been abducted in the recent past as  many as four or five persons have fallen victim on just one street and hardly can anyone in the city say he does not know one or two persons who have been abducted with ransom paid. Recently, the following persons were abducted in the city. Dr Anthony Egbe of the University of Calabar, Mr Efiom Edem Asuquo, Dr Vivien Otu, Mr Felix Ekpenyong  a student and son of  permanent secretary in the state, four Chinese nationals: Kan Jinxi,  Hunji Chan, Jian Jijun,  Chen Quin working for a construction firm, Danatrite  others are   Glory Okon, wife of a well known Calabar man, Abonima, Mrs Agube,  wife of Appeal Court judge, Ms Etim, Ignatius Agube  whose police orderly was killed, Matata twins, Ekanem Iyamba, a broadcaster with FRCN Fm station in Calabar,  and a Cameroonian diplomat whose name was not made available by the police.

Some victims have not been lucky to return home alive even after ransom was paid. Among those are Peter Etim, a broadcaster with the state broadcasting station, Cross River Broadcasting Corporation, CRBC, another is a trader,  an eighty-year-old man from Anambra state, Odinka Odinka whose business  mall is located along Target Road.. They have both not been seen several months after they were abducted. Etim was abducted in December 2018 while Odinka was kidnapped in 2019. Another victim. Jones who died in captivity, the hoodlums brought the body in the dead of night and took away the wife who was only released after another ransom was paid which according to the kidnapper was for “suffering” them by dying in captivity. Before now, there had been  abductions of , Seyi  Adekunle,  a Pastor with  Living Faith Church, aka Winners’ Chapel who  was praying with some of his pastors at his church location opposite the Margaret Ekpo International  Airport Calabar to prepare for the next day’s service when gun men stormed the place  and dragged him into one SUV and drove off.