April 17, 2012 is a day Ngozi Odogwu will not forget. It was the day her two children were forcefully taken from her by unknown gunmen after she was raped.
Nearly one month after, her desperate efforts to get her children back have not been successful. Mrs Odogwu is therefore calling on the acting Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar, and the Imo State Government to find her children and bring the kidnappers to book.
The incident happened when Mrs. Odogwu travelled from her husband’s home at Umuoria village, Itu Ezinihitte, Mbaise Local Government Area in Imo State, with her five children to visit her mother at Umunama village in the same local government area.
Sadly on that fateful day, unknown gunmen broke into their room at night and tied up Mrs. Odogwu and her aged mother. The gunmen raped Mrs. Odogwu and kidnapped her two children, 11-month-old Oyekachi, a girl, and Olumachi, a boy, who is two years old.
Mrs Odogwu narrated how the incident happened: “I left my husband’s village at Umuoria Itu in Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area in Imo State on April 14 to visit my mother at Umunama village. I went there to assist my mother with farm work. On April 17, about midnight, we were sleeping with my five children and mother in the room, when we heard noise and we woke up. Before we could say anything, three gunmen stormed the room with a woman and they started beating us up.
“The men tied me and my mother and the woman who came with them started pointing at my children who were crying at this time. They ordered the children to keep quiet but they kept crying. The gunmen took turn to rape me and when they were through, they kidnapped my two children, 11-month-old Oyekachi, a girl, and two years old Oluomachi, a boy. We raised alarm after they left but since then we have not seen my children.”
The incident was reported at the Itu Police Station. It was gathered that the case of kidnapping and rape are rampant in villages at the Ezinihitte Mbaise Local Government Area.
Chief Nkemdirim Ameachi, an Eze aspirant from Itu, expressed worry over the ugly incident and called on the government to protect the villages. Ameachi said: “When this incident happened, we expressed our anger as the community wrote to the Imo State Commissioner of Police through the President General of the community, Elder Eberechi Nwaogu, and the Secretary of the community, Emmanuel Ukah, so that the case can be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department for proper investigation. We as a community are not happy about this incident and we call on the acting IGP and the Imo State Government to track these kidnappers and rescue the children.”
It was gathered that in the last two months, kidnappers have targeted residents at Itu community. Recently, one Edwin Nwaogwugwu, a lecturer was kidnapped. A middle aged man was also kidnapped and their whereabouts are still unknown.