THREE weeks and two days after he was kidnapped by ransom-seeking criminals, the national vice-chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria in the South East, Dr. Chuddy Nwike, has been reportedly killed by his captors.
News of his death was announced on Thursday by the publicity secretary of his party in Anambra State, Mr. Okelo Madukaife, who said that the state chairman of the party Mr. Amaechi Obidike, and the state secretary, Emeka Ibe along with a brother of the deceased politician, Bufo Nwike, all identified his body at a police station in Agbor, Delta State.
The late Nwike was a medical doctor, who served also served a deputy-governor during the Chukwuemeka Ezeife Administration in Anambra State.
“With a heart full of pain and sorrow, Action Congress of Nigeria, Anambra State Chapter, in consultation with the Nwike Family of Azu Ogbunike, Oyi Local Government Area of Anambra State, announces the death murder of Dr. Chuddy Nwike, Ibolo Ogbunike, First Deputy Governor of Anambra State and National Vice President of the Action Congress of Nigeria (South East),” a statement issued by the Anambra State Action Congress of Nigeria read on Thursday.
According to reports, the criminals had contacted the family after taking the late Nwike hostage, demanding the sum of 30 million naira, which they requested to be delivered in dollars by either Nwike’s wife or his brother, Bufo Nwike.
Bufo Nwike was however able to negotiate for the sum of 5 million naira with the kidnappers after rejecting the demand that the sum be delivered by either him or his now-late brother’s wife. But the kidnappers reneged on their side of the bargain to release the captive upon receiving the money on April 5, last week.
The kidnappers also held the individual who brought the ransom hostage and ceased communicating with the family.
“We are tremendously ashamed of the circumstances of his death and wish we could now erase from history that a former Deputy Governor of a State in Nigeria died in this manner,” the party stated in its press release, adding that every effort made to get relevant agencies to take the matter of his rescue seriously was unsuccessful.
Cases of kidnapping has been on the rise across Nigeria in recent years, but it is has been especially rampant in the south-east and the south-south regions.
Many people who travel to their states and towns of origin have not been doing so in recent years, mainly due to growing concern for their safety from criminal gangs who now see kidnapping as some form of thriving business.
Most of the kidnappings that occur in the region almost always end up with the hostage-takers releasing their captives after receiving sums of money in ransom, usually negotiated discreetly through established channels, indicating that money is the chief motivation for the criminal activity.
On rare occasions as the case concerning Dr. Nwike, victims are killed.
Efforts to clamp down on kidnapping have yielded little success as cases of kidnapping continue across the country.