It was gathered that the armed hoodlums beat him to a stupor after which they bundled him into a waiting vehicle and drove to an unknown destination.
Chief Enibe Francis, the abducted chairman of the Mgbuka Amazun market, in Onitsha, Anambra State is still in the hands of his abductors, 11 days after the incident.
SaharaReporters had reported how the Chairman was kidnapped by unknown gunmen in September, while the circumstances around his kidnap were said to be related to Monday’s sit-at-home in the area.
It was learnt that the incident happened last week Monday shortly after the chairman had opened the market as directed by the market associations in the state.
It was gathered that the armed hoodlums beat him to a stupor after which they bundled him into a waiting vehicle and drove to an unknown destination.
However, there was uneasy calm in Mgbuka Amazun market, on Friday as the chairman of Sokoto market, Onitsha, Emeka Eze regretted that chairmen of various markets in the city had been gripped by fear since Enibe’s abduction, but added that prayers had been intensified over his immediate release.
He said: “We are not happy that our brother is being held. We have to embark on serious prayers for his release alive. Nnamdi Kanu should also be released for all these crimes to end.
“The government should do something because it means we are not safe. The Vigilante group can’t do this thing alone.
“There should be joint security operatives to face these gunmen because they don’t operate with pump action guns but military rifles like Ak47 guns and other sophisticated weapons.”
Also speaking, the chairman of Haruna market, Chief Emmanuel Idoko described weak security in the market where the incident occurred, calling on the government to beef up security in the market.
He stated: “For these gunmen to have picked the Mgbuka Amazun market chairman without any resistance from the market vigilante group or any other persons means that the security there is porous and not at alert when the unknown gunmen stormed the market.
“We have security in my market and I am the Chief Security Officer of ASMATA, we are asking the Governor to beef up security as this is a slight on the traders, it looks unbelievable that the market head was kidnapped.
“The governor is the one that asked us to do sanitation on Mondays and open our shops. We discussed it with him during our last meeting at Awka and he assured us of the provision of security. Markets are supposed to have a joint task force so that the traders will be determined.
“We did our Monday prayers and stayed throughout. When we got the call, we decided to rush to Mgbuka Amazu. The incident also put fear on traders as my traders did not turn up after the incident. We’re praying for the release of Nnamdi Kanu every Monday so the crime will end,” he said.
On his part, the chairman of Grain Seed market, Chief Chijioke Okpala described as cowards market chairmen and others who refused to open their markets for fear of attack based on the Mgbuka Amazu market incident
“The kidnap of the chairman of that market did not put fear in us, we opened our market last Monday and will continue to open our market. The problem with that market was that the security operatives there were not on alert when the unknown gunmen struck. We are praying for his release alive so that more fear will not grip the traders.”