Simon Ekpa has continued kidnapping for ransom – Soludo claims
Anambra State Governor, Charles Soludo, has revealed that Simon Ekpa, a Finland-based self-proclaimed Biafra agitator, remains involved in kidnapping for ransom.
Speaking in Awka on Saturday, Soludo described kidnapping as a highly lucrative business, surpassing drugs and oil. He noted that before his tenure, gunmen controlled eight local government areas in the state and recounted his father’s kidnapping in 2009.
He said: “Kidnapping is not new, my father had been kidnapped as far back as 2009. GU Okeke, Pokobros and many others have fallen victim too.
“Before I assumed office, about eight local government areas were being controlled by gunmen.
“They killed policemen and collected guns, attacked and burnt down police stations and went into the bush to label themselves liberators.
“We came in and went to work and cleared them and we recovered the eight local government areas that were under siege. These gangs claim to be Biafra freedom fighters. IPOB has dissociated themselves from it, but one Simon Ekpa has continued kidnapping for ransom.
“Kidnapping for ransom is now the most lucrative enterprise, even more lucrative than drugs and oil. For every one naira reported as payment for ransom, five to six naira was not reported.
“With a culture that celebrates wealth without craft, even the kidnappers amongst us are now celebrated. Idolatry which these criminals have converted to have become the fastest growing religion in the South-East. Nothing is sacred to them anymore.”
