By Iniobong Ekponta,(Uyo), Ugochukwu Eke (Umuahia), Dupe Osinkolu-Olaoye (Lagos) and Ernest Nwokolo (Abeokuta)

Unknown gunmen Sunday kidnapped Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Lagos chairman Wahab Oba and four others. The kidnappers are demanding a N250million ransom.The others are the Zone G Secretary of the union, Adolphus Okonkwo, the Council’s Assistant Secretary, Sylva Okeke, Shola Oyeyipo and their driver Azeez Abdulrauf.

The journalists were kidnapped in Ukbariki, near Aba in Obingwa Local Government Area of Abia State.

They were on their way from a National Executive Council (NEC) meeting in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State.

Ukbariki is a boundary town between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

Sources said the gunmen double-crossed the Toyota Sienna Sport Utility Vehicle in which Oba and his colleagues were riding.

The kidnappers were said to have moved their victims into a Volvo car and sped off.

Ogun State Council of NUJ Secretary Wole Shokunbi, who with other delegates from Delta, escaped being snatched, said the incident occurred around 9.00a.m.

Yemi Akintunde of the Nigerian Television Authority (NTA), who jumped into the bush, said the kidnappers called the National Secretariat of the Union in Abuja to demand the N250 million ransom.

Akintunde said: "It was a terrible experience. We (delegates) from Ogun escaped by the whiskers as we ran into the bush after the kidnappers opened fire on the rear tyre of the vehicle we were travelling in.

‘’The heavy presence of police could not provide any security in the situation. Each time I read about kidnapping I used to wonder how it happened, but after I was a victim, I think the Federal Government must view the issue with all seriousness."

Inspector-General of Police Ogbonna Onovo ordered the Commissioners of Police in Akwa Ibom and Abia states to track down the suspects.

Akwa Ibom Police chief Walter Rugbere has swung into action, deploying his anti-kidnapping squad in the scene.

Rugbere noted that kidnapping in the Abia axis has become "a nightmare".

He said: "I have been advising people going through that Abia axis to go with security or pass through the Port Harcourt area because that side is a bit safe," he said.

Abia Police chief Jonathan Johnson said he was yet to get the details.

Briefing reporters in Abuja last night, NUJ National President Mallam Mohammed Garba implored the kidnappers to release the journalists to "continue to discharge their social responsibility to the nation".

Garba said: "I got a call from Zain network which is no longer going through; I spoke with Oba -who was shouting, screaming, begging us to give them what they demanded. I also talked to the kidnappers; I told them that the N250 million they are asking for is too much. I told them we are journalists and that we don’t have money, and they started abusing me until they cut off the line."

He added that he spoke with Oba around 11:00 a.m. a few minutes before they were taken captive.

Force Spokesman Emmanuel Ojukwu said Onovo had directed the Commissioners of Police (CPs) in Akwa Ibom and Imo states to send detectives to join the Abia State Police Command to fish out the kidnappers.

The Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) urged the IG to ensure the release of Oba and others.

A statement by its National Assistant Publicity Secretary, Gbolahan Gbadamosi, asked the IG to act on the outcome of his meeting with the South-East governors on security in the region.

The National Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) called for fasting and prayers to facilitate the release of the journalists.

The association said a special prayer would hold today at the NUJ’s Ladi Lawal Press Centre, Ikeja, Lagos at 3p.m.

The International Press Centre (IPC) and Journalists for Democratic Rights (JODER), while condemning the incident, demanded the release of the journalists.

In a statement by its presidents Lanre Arogundade, IPC said: The International Press Centre strongly condemns the kidnapping of officials of Lagos NUJ, including the chairman.

"IPC calls on their abductors to release them unconditionally. Kidnapping is an act of individual terrorism that does not solve problems that require collective efforts."

JODER said the incident showed the "emerging dangers" associated with media practice.

A statement by its programme officer, Seyi Fayemi, said: "The South-East governors and the IG must see this as one of the greatest challenges in the history of kidnapping in Nigeria."

‘There’s no problem; Allah is in control’

Despite her husband’s ordeal, Mrs Barakat Oba was in high spirits yesterday as she received sympathisers in their Journalists’ Estate, Arepo, Ogun State home.

Clad in a black kaftan, Mrs Oba cracked jokes with visitors, even as she urged God to bring back her husband back home safe and sound.

She said: "He walked out of this house with his two legs and he will surely return home with his two legs."

Mrs Oba went on: "I believe in Allah that he will come back home safely. There is no problem. Allah is in control."

She said she learnt that the kidnappers were asking for N250 million ransom. "We have more than that at home," Mrs Oba said, adding:

"They should just come and collect it. By the time we gather all the papers we have at home and the ones in the Ministry of Information, we will have more than N250 million to give them."

Mrs Oba said she lost contact with her husband at about 6.23a.m.

She said: "I called him around 6.23am this morning (yesterday) and he told me he would arrive in Lagos today.

"All of a sudden I couldn’t reach him again, and I became apprehensive. The situation was like that until his younger brother called to intimate me that the NUJ President called that something happened when my husband was coming ...

"Initially, when Mrs. Okonkwo and some other women said they wanted to see me, I thought that my husband was involved in a road accident, but when they told me that my husband had been kidnapped, I felt relieved because I know that God is in control".

Mrs Oba said the family was keeping the news from her husband’s aged mother so that it won’t affect her health.