It was as a devine intervention for Pastor Gilbert Akioyamen as he can not explained how he miraculously escaped from the den of his abductors
His escape from captivity is akin to the deliverance of Apostle Peter in the Bible who was miraculously rescued from prison while the Pretoria Guards keeping watch on him slept off.
According to Edo state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, the victim, Pastor Akioyamen, was abducted at about 6 pm on March 24, along Ukhun road, Ekpoma, Esan West Local Government Area of the state, while on his way to the Deeper Life camp ground.
Three of the suspected kidnappers, including a business woman, namely, Charles Arasomwan, 22; Jezreel Ekanem, 21; and Mbindi Nneka, 26; were paraded on Thursday with 72 other suspects arrested for various crimes, at the state Police Command Headquarters in Benin.
Narrating their level of involvement and how their victim escaped from their grip, one of the suspects, Ekanem, said the Pastor had been kept in their custody by some other fleeing members of the gang who promised to reward them .
“They said that they were going to a bank and told us to keep an eye on the man. They said that they would give us something to buy some beer.
“The man did not talk to us, so we slept off. When we woke up, we realised that he had escaped,” he explained.
His female counterpart, Mbindi Nneka, however denied any knowledge of the abduction, saying that she was only in the apartment to remove her property.
“I don’t know how the matter started. I was the one leaving in the apartment before I put my brother there when I got married. It was the landlord that instructed me to remove the property there.
“I wish I knew that it would have resulted into this; it was the landlord that put me in this problem. I only went there to move the property to my house,” she said.
According to the State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, who paraded the suspects were arrested after the Ekpoma divisional police headquarters, received a distress call and combed several buildings in the areas.
He explained that while Arasomwan and Ekanem were nabbed in the building where the victim was kept, Nneka was arrested in the apartment of one of the suspects, said to be her relative.
“Two locally made cut-to-size single barrel guns, mask, ATM cards, one long rope and one mat were recovered from the suspects,” Ezike said.
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