Orji to Akpabio: your comment on abduction origin untrue

Former Abia State Governor Theodore Orji has faulted a
statement credited to former Akwa Ibom State Governor
Godswill Akpabio that commercial abduction originated from
Abia State.

Orji, who is the senator representing Abia Central in the
National Assembly, was reacting to Akpabio’s allegation that
the commercialisation of kidnapping for ransom originated and
was elevated to the highest level in Abia State under Orji.

Akpabio was contributing to a debate the Joint Committee
Report on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence on
the floor of the Senate.
But Orji said Akpabio’s statement was standing the truth on its
head.


The former Abia State governor said it started in Akwa Ibom
State under Akpabio.
In statement in Umuahia, the Abia State capital, by his Media
Adviser, Mr. Don Norman Obinna, the Abia senator said he
had waited for Akpabio to deny or retract his statement.
Orji noted that Akpabio’s statement was meant to divert
attention from himself, adding that his political opponents had
accused the former Akwa Ibom governor of introducing
kidnapping for ransom when he was governor in 2007.
He said: “The accusation against Akpabio was contained in
statement by the President and Representatives of Ibibio
People’s Union, Inc, Thompson Essien, before the United
States House of Representatives Committee on Foreign
Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, and Human
Rights On ‘U.S Policy toward Nigeria’.

“Akpabio, being aware of his indictment for complicity in
kidnapping by the Ibibio People’s Union before the Western
world, acted defensively and impulsively to avoid being
referred to during the debate on Joint Committee Report on
Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence.
“His allegation was to placate the Ibibio People’s Union Inc
and other international monitoring groups who have, in their
position, documented lists of kidnapped victims, including
expatriates, clergies, politicians, children, among others,
numbering over 102.

“The list includes seven others and a royal father, who
escaped after being kidnapped, which was widely reported by
local and international media and human rights organisations,
such as Amnesty International and the Human Rights Watch,
during Akpabio’s era.

“When one considered the fact that while these hostage
takings were being perpetrated, Akpabio’s government never
brought anyone to book or took decisive security decision,
which would have eliminated kidnapping in Akwa Ibom, like Orji
did while serving as the Governor of Abia State.”

Orji said that Akpabio should tell the people of Akwa Ibom
State what he did to curb the excesses of kidnappers when he
was governor, instead of diverting attention about his inability
when his attention was needed most.

~The Nation