Igbo traders and businessmen have concluded plans
to close shops for two days in protest against the spate of kidnapping
in Cross River State.
The traders and businessmen under the aegis of Igbo Unity Forum
(IUF) said they are worried at the incessant kidnapping and extortion
of ransom running into millions of naira from top Igbo businessmen and
women by gunmen in the last one year.
Daily Sun gathered that over 35 Igbo, mostly traders dealing in
electrical, building materials, spare parts, bakery and cosmetics have
been kidnapped and hundreds of millions paid as ransom to secure their
freedom.
Briefing newsmen on the development, Coordinator of Igbo Unity
Forum, Mazi Okechukwu Ebubedike said the decision to shut down
businesses for at least two days in Calabar metropolis was reached
after an emergency meeting with major stakeholders and town unions of
Igbo extraction to protest the ugly trend.
Ebubedike, who doubles as chairman of Igbo professionals in Cross
River State, disclosed that over 35 prominent sons and their wives have
been abducted so far in the state in the last one year with hundreds of
millions paid as ransom.
According to him, most of the victims pay between N5 million and N30 million as ransom even when injuries are inflicted on them.
“We have been made victims of kidnapping in the state in the last one
year and made to pay dearly as ransom to these hoodlums in the last
couple of months. Unfortunately, nobody cares about our plight at this
excruciating circumstance.
“I can tell you that Igbo traders and businessmen who are victims of
these hoodlums have been paying hundreds of millions as ransom to
secure their freedom.
“And, in protest against this ugly trend, we are embarking on protest
by closing our shops and other business outlets for two days.
“We have, therefore, directed all shops owned by Igbo should be
closed on a day to be announced to attract attention and to see how this
security lapse can be tackled.
“We will enforce the closure to press home our demand to stop the kidnapping.
“We have been made targets of kidnappers. We are now preys in the
hands of criminals and everybody seems not to bother because it is Igbo.
“But, we will resist it because we are here to do business and assist in developing the state sincerely.
So, we can no longer fold our hands and watch our people being used as money-minting machine by kidnappers,” he stated.