Kidnappers Fed Us With Rice, Stew -- Freed School Kids-PM News

Johnson and Tricia Eko, the children of Johnson Eko, the Director at the Cross River State Sports Commission kidnapped lastweek by hoodlums along the Murtala Muhammed Highway while their mother was taking them to school, were on Friday evening released by their captors. The two kids aged 10 and six were abandoned by their captors at the Women and Children Hospital owned by Mrs Onari Dukethe wife to Mr Donald Duke, former governor of Cross River State, located at the Murtala Muhammed Highway, near the 13 Brigade of the Nigerian Army, Calabar.<--more--!> Johnson, the 10 year-old pupil of the Hill crest Primary School, located at Ikotonim, Calabar, said they were well treated by their captors. "They fed us with boil yam and egg, rice and stew and they never beat us," he said. The Cross Rive State Commissionerof Police, Mr Osita Ezechukwu told newsmen on Saturday in his office at the Police headquarters, Diamond Hill Calabar, that the captors released the children following a manhunt by the policefor them. "On receipt of the complaint of the kidnap of the two kids, the criminal Investigation Department(CID) and other co-opted specialised units swung into action and intensive investigation commenced by vigorous combingof all nooks and crannies of the city in search of the kids and the kidnappers, the criminals were constrained to abandon the children at Women and Children Hospital and escaped". Unconfirmed report, however, said the parents paid the sum of N1 million before e the children were released. The children, Mr Ezechukwu said, were in good health and had been reunited with their parents and warned that though no atte4st had been made, there wasstill a man hunt for the hoodlums.Their mother, Mrs Juliet Johnson Eko, mother of the two kids said she was thankful to God and the police for assisting in recovering their children. Meanwhile, the Rivers Commissioner for Power, Mr Augustine Nwokocha, has been freed by his captors. The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)recalls that the commissioner wasabducted by gunmen on Oct. 12 at Omoku in the Ogba/Egbema/Ndoni Local Government Area of the state. The Public Relations Officer of the Rivers State Police Command, Mr Ben Ugwuegbulam, told NAN on Sunday in Port Harcourt that Nwokocha was release on Oct.19 at 9:30 p.m. He said that another person who was abducted together with Nwokocha had also regained his freedom, adding, however, that the identity of the person was yet to be known. Ugwuegbulam said the command was not aware if any ransom waspaid before the commissioner could be released.