Vice Chancellor, Driver, Kidnapped As Abductors Demand N6M

PHOTO: SOME GUNMEN OPERATING IN THE NIGER DELTA AREA.

ABUJA, June 25, (THEWILL) - The last has not been heard about the wave of kidnapping in the country, as rampaging kidnappers Thursday abducted Reverend Father Justin Ukpong, Vice Chancellor of Veritas Catholic University in Abia state and his driver, THEWILL can report.

Archbishop (Dr.) John Onaiyekan, Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Diocese and Chairman of Council of the University in a statement made available to THEWILL in Abuja said that the incident occurred at about 7pm as the Vice- Chancellor was about entering his house, not too far from the University after the close of work.

He said the whereabouts of the Vice Chancellor and his driver is still not known while the kidnappers are yet to make demands for ransom from the university, but have desperately demanded to talk to the Archbishop in charge of the institution.

But in a telephone conversation with THEWILL through the Vice-Chancellor’s　cell phone, the abductors demanded a N6 million naira ransom.

"His people are not cooperating, we know he is a Father, that is why we told them to bring N6 million naira but nobody is contacting us," a kidnapper told THEWILL in a two minutes phone conversation on Friday evening.

"We cannot release them without collecting any money so they should forget begging us to set him free. Do you mean we have worked for nothing?"

"The Father is here and he is cared for, we will not disturb him but his people have to cooperate so that we will let him go. We want to negotiate but they don’t want to negotiate," the speaker obviously of Igbo descent because of his accent said.

When THEWILL contacted Archbishop Onaiyekan for his comments, he said the Reverend Father had no money to give any kidnapper, stating "where do you expect a Catholic Priest to get money to pay for ransom?" he queried.

"Several appeals from well meaning Nigerians through their contact GSM phone numbers for the release of the abducted VC and his driver have been rebuffed by the kidnappers," the statement further said.

"It will be recalled that on Friday, May 28, 2010 at about 7.45 pm, three female students of the University, were kidnapped from the Female Hostel located in Obehie. These students however regained their freedom after ten days, by God’s grace, without payment of any ransom."

"We, the Catholic Bishops of Nigeria are really disturbed by this latest development which is a threat to the contribution of the Church to education development in the country. 　We condemn it vehemently. At the same time, we pray for a change of heart by those involved," he said.

We therefore appeal to the kidnappers to release the Vice Chancellor and his driver unhurt and without any conditions. We also use this medium to call on the federal, state governments and security agents to do more in their power to guarantee security of lives and property of the law-abiding citizens of our great nation.