by Isi Esene

Mike Ozekhome, the human rights activist who was abducted by unknown gunmen two weeks ago returned home on Thursday to a rousing welcome.

The popular lawyer who was kidnapped between Ehor and Ekpoma Road in Edo state and released on Wednesday, was in a joyful mood as he narrated his experience to well-wishers who had come to visit him in his home on Mike Ozekhome Lane, Igando, Lagos State.

He said, “My ordeal began on Friday August 23, 2013. I left Benin at 2pm for my home town.

“I ran into the kidnappers some minutes past 3pm. It was my driver, Chinedu, who noticed that a vehicle had been used to block the road and he told me that the people were armed robbers. So, I told him to quickly turn, but before he could turn, a gun was already on my head. one of the men said if he moved an inch they would kill me.

“So, I told my driver to stay put. They dragged Chinedu and I out of the car, shot the tyres of the vehicle and locked him in the boot and made me lie flat on the floor of their car. I heard them say, Police! Police! Police! They also added, ‘no retreat no surrender.’

“I heard a staccato of bullets; it was like a war situation as they were firing continuously. As they were firing, the car was moving.

“I heard them say, ‘oh we have killed some of them, but tomorrow, they (police) will come out and lie that some of us were injured but none of us has been injured’.”

Ozekhome said they arrived at an uncompleted building after driving for about four hours.

According to him, the kidnappers did not know who he was before he was abducted. They “started asking questions like what was my name and I replied.”

He continued saying, “I was not targeted, meaning that they merely operated randomly. It is bad news because it could have been any other person. It was while we were in the car that they started asking questions like what was my name and I replied, ‘Chief Mike Ozekhome, SAN.’

“They searched my pocket, took out the complimentary cards and other things. After checking one of the cards, one of them said, ‘yes, that is what is written on your card.’

“They asked how long I had been practicing, I said 32 years. They said if I told them a lie, they would know by the following day from the press.”

He said the kidnappers’ den was operated like a well-organised camp with doctors, cooks with necessary amenities.

“We were about 13 in the camp. One woman and her two children were also there too. I fell ill on two occasions and they feared that I might die. The first time they quickly called their doctor who also wore veil like them and he gave me some malaria drugs.

He said his son and the head of Chambers, Dominic Ezerioha, were also abducted during their attempt at releasing him but were all let go on Wednesday.

“They said Ezerioha and my son should come for me, but they were abducted and brought to the camp. We were all released about 7am yesterday (Wednesday) in Benin.

“We were eating most of the time once in a day. We ate Eba and Ogbono, we also ate white rice and jollof rice.

“We were locked up in a room which was very hot. The windows were only opened on two occasions. A colony of mosquitoes descended on us and feasted on us like barbecue.”

He, however, refused to divulge how much was paid as ransom for him or if any  money was paid at all for his release.