“Speak English or We’ll Shoot You”: Kidnap Victim Says Bandits Threatened Him for Using Igbo to Call for Help.

A man from Umuahia, Mr. Dennis Izuchukwu Okechi, has recounted how six bandits who kidnapped him last Wednesday threatened to kill him simply because he spoke Igbo on the phone to his people.

Okechi, who works as a tricycle rider, and a farmer named Mrs. Onyinyechi Ekechukwu were abducted around 3:00 p.m. while returning from their farmland. The bandits dragged them into a bush in the Udengwu forest.

Speaking from his hospital bed, Okechi said the kidnappers inflicted multiple wounds on him and Mrs. Ekechukwu, then demanded a N10 million ransom. They handed him his phone to call his family.

That’s when Okechi cleverly switched to Igbo to secretly tell his people exactly where he was being held.

“Once they gave me my phone, I quickly used Igbo to alert them that we were in the Udengwu area,” he explained. “That helped my community know our exact location.”

But the bandits were furious. “They got angry that I didn’t speak English so they could understand what I told my people. They threatened to shoot me,” Okechi added.

He noted that the bandits spoke a strange language and openly called themselves bandits.

Fortunately, when the kidnappers saw a large group of youths and leaders from Okechi’s community approaching through the bush to rescue them, they fled through another path, abandoning the two victims.

Okechi expressed deep gratitude to his Umuawa Alaocha community for combing the forest and saving their lives.

Meanwhile, the lawmaker representing Ikwuano/Umuahia Federal Constituency, Obi Aguocha, has strongly condemned the attack and urged residents of Ohuhu and other Igbo communities to remain vigilant.