A kidnap survivor and Rivers State-based lawyer, Tamuno Igbikiberebima, has narrated how he disarmed a two-man kidnap gang of AK-47 while trying to abduct him at his residence in Rumuigbo, Obio/Akpor Local Government Area of the state.
The lawyer who is also a worker with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation while speaking to City Round at the state police headquarters, Port Harcourt, where the hoodlums were paraded by the state’s Commissioner of Police, Joseph Mucan, said he mustered the courage to resist the kidnappers.
Igbikiberebima said he was making a call in front of his gate on December 17 when a black Toyota Camry suddenly pulled over and the occupants ordered him to enter the vehicle.
He explained, “One one of them came out with an AK-47 rifle and ordered me to enter the back seat. When he asked me to enter, I said why should I enter? He said he wanted to waste (kill) me. I begged him not to waste me and asked him what I had done.
“When I noticed how he was handling the gun. It appeared to me that he is not proficient in gun handling. I told myself that ‘ordinarily one-to-one this man cannot beat me.’ That was the courage I had.
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“When he faced the nozzle of the rifle down trying to cock the gun, I started struggling with him. In the process both of us shot one bullet on the ground. When he saw a crowd coming, he left the rifle and ran into the car.
“I then ran into my compound and brought out my Hilux. Some people joined me and we chased after them. We tracked them at Apara link Road.”
Asked what gave him the courage to resist the hoodlum who was carrying a gun, he said, “most likely their intention was to kidnap or assassinate me. I think it is important for me to do it in front of my gate. It would be more honourable instead of following them to wherever they wanted to take me to.”
Earlier, the police commissioner, Mukan, said Igbikiberebima “displayed uncommon bravery by putting up a strong resistance, whereupon he single-handedly dispossessed one of the kidnappers of his AK-47 rifle and arrested him.”
