By Stanley Amadi
After several days in kidnappers’ den, a Catholic priest, Reverend Father Philip Ojimanu, was over the weekend rescued from his abductors after fierce gun battle with men of the Imo State Police Command.
The police shot dead one of the kidnapers, while the ring leader known as ‘Bush’ escaped through the back door. The five-man kidnapping gang abducted Fr. Philip Ojimanu of the Catholic Archdiocese of Owerri at Uzoagba in Ikeduru Local Government Area of the state while inside his private car.
However, the kidnappers whose hide-out in Orodo, Mbaitolu Local Government Council Area of Imo State, was later detected were tracked by the police to a hotel in Aba, Abia State, where they had arranged to collect the ransom from the priest’s family.
While parading the suspects, Obinna Mba from Orodo in MbaItolu Local Government Area of the state, Ibewuchi Uzo (shot dead), Celestine Emma Chukwuma from Orsu Local Government and Frank Uche at the Command Headquarters in Owerri yesterday, Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Andrew Enwerem, said the suspects abducted Rev. Fr. Ejimadu from Uzoagba in Ikeduru Council Area while in his Nissan Jeep Car.
Enwerem further revealed that the suspects, who had established contacts with the supposed family members of the priest for payment of ransom, were trailed by anti- kidnapping squad of the state police command to a hotel called “Locals” in Aba, Abia State, where two of them were arrested.
According to him, the two arrested kidnappers later took the police to their hide-out in Orodo, Mbaitoli council area of Imo State. The PPRO said on sighting the anti-kidnapping squad in Orodo the suspects engaged the police in a shoot-out, adding that in the ensuing gun duel, one of the suspects, Ibewuchi Uzo, was shot dead, while another gang member Celestine Emma Chukwuma was seriously wounded, adding that the leader of the gang identified as ‘Bush’ escaped.
He disclosed that the police also recovered a Nissan car belonging to the abducted priest Fr. Philip Ojimanu from the suspects. However, one of the suspects, Celestine Emma Chukwuma, denied being a member of the gang and never negotiated for payment of ransom before the priest would be released, as alleged by the police.
“I was contracted by leader of the group to do a pillar work at his house and I only decided to run when I saw the police because if I am arrested I don’t have the money to bail myself,” he
