By Jasmine Daniels
According to earlier published articles one Mr Michael Chijioke John a Port Harcourt based businessman had cried out seeking justice and security and denies being an informant to ESP/IPOB. Hear him.
According to a write up Abah Anthony John
Ohaozara, Ebonyi State, 17 November, 2022 / 10:00pm posted that a certain
Mr. Michael Chijioke John, a Port Harcourt based businessman in an interview On Thursday, 17th November, 2022 with Newsname recounted his horrible experience with startling revelations after his release from 4-days ordeal in the hands of boko haram/ abductors.
Michael who was abducted on 10th November, 2022 while travelling along Kano – Maiduguri Highway to Jigawa State in the Northern East Part of Nigeria and later released allegedly narrated a chilling account of how his abductors, who subjected him and others to severe torture and beating, boasted of their broader government-sanctioned ongoing operations in states in the South East region with rampant kidnappings for money to fund their “religious and land grabbing crusade”.
According to Mr. Michael, “The abductors are fearless and boast of backing by security agencies. That, they own the government and nobody can stop their planned, ongoing operations in the South East region,” he alleged.
The abductors of Mr. Mchael wanted money. The businessman narrated, “They collected all the cash I had on me for my business trip. They kept bargaining for ransom as if they were bargaining for cows. They kept bargaining over the lives of their victims. And even killed about three victims from whom they were not able to extract reasonable ransom” he declared.
The businessman further recounted that his abductors released him and some other victims under pressure of pursuit by local hunters who sought the rescue of some of the victims.
According to Mr. Michael, the people behind the kidnappings are Boko haram/ bandits. He said, “They are no longer hiding their identity. All they ever wanted was to make money from the kidnappings to finance their other criminal ambitions.”
Nigerian security agencies has been battling with insurgencies of violence orchestrated by gangs, whose members carry out indiscriminate kidnapping for ransom, and in some cases, killing their victims who cannot raise the ransom.
In a separate article written By Christian Ogbonna
And posted on December, 4th, 2022
Some armed men in military uniform on 4th December, 2023 opened gunfire on one Mr. Michael Chijioke John, a native of Avu/Umuiwa, Okposi, Ohaozara LGA, Ebonyi State at court area, Okposi. Mr. Michael who survived a kidnap by boko haram/ bandits was riding on a motorbike at the time of the attack but narrowly escaped death as the bullets missed the target, but left him with severe injuries.
According to the report, the reason for the attack is still unknown as at the time of this report but it has been rumoured in the area that Mr. Michael granted an interview after his kidnap ordeal where he revealed that his abductors boasted about having backing of the security agencies in the ongoing rampant kidnapping for ransom in the South East, Nigeria.
It is also rumoured and alleged that Mr. Michael volunteered some sensitive information to members of Eastern Security Network (ESN) who contacted him after the interview, and have been attacking targeted locations of bandits and collaborating with security agencies in the South East.
In yet another Post on Friday, August 2, 2022 it stated that it’s Over a year after escaping from attack by military men at his home town, Okposi, Mr. Michael Chijioke John, a native of Avu-Umuiwa, Okposi, Ohaozara Local Government Area of Ebonyi State, has been reported to be on the run from security agencies and bandits who tag him as an informant for Eastern Security Network (ESN), an affiliate armed group of Indigenous Peoples of Biafra (IPOB).
According to Udoka, Michael’s cousin residing in Okposi, Ohaozara Ebonyi State, Michael was forced to flee the country in January, 2023 after surviving at attack on his life by Military men at Court area, Okposi allegedly for being suspected as an informant to ESN. It is believed that the suspicion stemmed from an interview he earlier granted revealing the evil plan of rampant kidnapping for ransom by book haram/Fulani bandits in the states of the South East, Nigeria.
It was revealed by Udoka that various unknown, strange faces have been spying and occasionally monitoring the residential compound of Mr. Michael in order to execute their evil agenda against him. This development has put Michael’s family members in great apprehension about his life and safety as well as that of other members of the family who may become targets if Michael is not found by these evil actors in view of the sad fate that have befallen other persons who have been gruesomely murdered after being tagged as informants to ESN/IPOB.