The police have confirmed the kidnapped but denied knowledge of ransom demand
Gunmen in Akwa Ibom State, South-south Nigeria, have kidnapped a retired secondary school principal, Ezekiel Paul.
Mr Paul, who is a brother to the Archbishop of the African Church, Uyo Province, was kidnapped on Sunday morning at his country home, Ikot Abasi Akpan in Mkpat Enin Local Government Area of the state.
The police spokesperson in the state, Timfon John, confirmed the incident to PREMIUM TIMES on telephone on Wednesday.
Ms John, an assistant superintendent of police, said the police were doing everything possible to ensure the release of the victim.
The police spokesperson denied knowledge of ransom demand by the kidnappers.
But the victim's brother and archbishop of the African Church, Uyo province, Augustine Ikat, told PREMIUM TIMES that the kidnappers initially demanded N20 million as ransom.
The kidnappers, Mr Ikat said, called the victim's daughter on Wednesday where they reduced the ransom to N5 million.
Residents of Ekpene Ukpa Road - stretching from Ekparakwa in Oruk Anam Local Government Area through Mkpat Enin Local Government to Etinan Local Government Area are living in fear due to the activities of kidnappers in the area.
Gunmen have within the last three years carried out a series of abductions, collected huge ransoms and in some occasions killed their victims.
Within the span of three months in 2022, gunmen abducted four high profile persons including two clerics and a medical doctor and a party chieftain in the area. All the four kidnappings happened less than five kilometers apart.
In February 2022, gunmen invaded a cottage hospital in Ikot Ekpaw, Mkpat Enin LGA and abducted a medical doctor, Felix Ekpo.
Punch newspaper reported that the kidnappers stormed the hospital in the morning and made away with the doctor in his car.
Two months later - April, gunmen abducted John Okoriko, a televangelist and founder of Solid Rock Kingdom Church.
Mr Okoriko was abducted when gunmen invaded the headquarters of his church in his village, Ibekwe Akpanya in Mkpat Enin LGA, PREMIUM TIMES reported.
In May same year, gunmen kidnapped Alphonsus Eboh, a Catholic priest in the same community - Ikot Abasi Akpan where Mr Paul was kidnapped on Sunday and demanded N100 million as ransom.
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Then chairperson of the parish council, Cletus Okodi had told PREMIUM TIMES that the priest was kept in an unidentified forest in the area.
Mr Okodi, himself a kidnapped victim, did not disclose the amount the church paid before the priest was released.
Still in May 2022, a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state, Sylvester Ntefre, was shot dead by gunmen. The gunmen invaded his residence in Ekparakwa, along Abak-Ikot Abasi Road in a black SUV and shot continually to scare neighbours before abducting the man.
About three months ago in March 2024, a liquor distributor, who was kidnapped at his office in Ekparakwa, died in captivity, Sun newspaper reported. Where his kidnap took place is meters away from where Mr Ntefre was later abducted in May,
Malcahy Ufot, a retired broadcaster with the Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria who was kidnapped by gunmen in October last year but released after he became unconscious in captivity, died the next day at a hospital in Uyo.
