ESUT VC’s abductors demand N200m ransom

There were indications on Thursday that the kidnappers of the Vice Chancellor of Enugu State University of Technology, Prof. Cyprian Onyeji, had demanded a ransom of N200m to free the don.

Although the police did not confirm the ransom demand, they confirmed that the vehicle in which Onyeji was taken away, was recovered intact.

Punch Sources said the kidnappers made telephone contacts with Onyeji’s family and made the ransom demand Thursday but the person who received the call could not be ascertained. However, the police have confirmed that Onyeji, who was kidnapped by gunmen on Wednesday, was alive.

The Enugu State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Ebere Amaraizu, made this known to our correspondent on Thursday, but said he wouldn’t divulge the measures put in place by the police to secure the release of Onyeji.

He said, “If I divulge the machinery we have put in place, these kidnappers may capitalise on it, after reading the newspapers, to make things difficult for us.

“All I can tell you is that the ESUT Vice Chancellor is alive and we are on the case. The machinery has been put in place with a view to registering success.” Amaraizu said the three police officers, who were wounded during the kidnap of Onyeji, were responding to treatment at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital.

The PPRO had earlier said an armed robbery suspect, who wanted to pull out a gun to shoot police officers on patrol in Enugu State but blew off his private part instead, was equally responding to treatment.

He said, “The suspect is with us in the Police Headquarters because if we leave him in the hospital, he might escape. While he is here, investigation into the matter is ongoing.”

Amaraizu said the injured robbery suspect was arrested alongside another suspect on Wednesday night at about 8pm, during a routine patrol of the New Haven Police Division of the Enugu State Police Command.

He said, “The hoodlums were overpowered by the security operatives that promptly acted on a tip off. Meanwhile, during the encounter, the suspect, in a bid to pull out a locally made pistol that he hid on his waist closer to his private part, mistakenly fired himself on his private part.”