Kidnappers Free Market Leader, After N15m Ransom

Chief Sam Mendu, who was abducted in Awada area of Onitsha on Monday alongside Chief Eugene Nwanekezi, chairman, Ogbaru Main Market, has been released by his abductors.

Mendu, who is also the patron of the market, was let off the hook late on Wednesday evening after his family paid an undisclosed amount of money as ransom to the kidnappers. 

A family source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to newsmen in Onitsha in Anambra on Thursday, said that the kidnappers demanded N50 million ransom for both Mendu and Nwanekezi.

 “But when the kidnappers lost grip of Nwanekezi, who escaped from their den, they still pegged their ransom at N50 million.

 “As negotiations went on, the kidnappers brought down their demand to N20 million and later to N15 million.

 “At the end, I cannot tell you specifically whether his immediate family paid up to N15 million or less to the hoodlums,’’ he said.

At Mendu’s GRA residence close to Inland Police Station, Onitsha, people trooped in to sympathise with the family and at the same time thanked God for his release without harm.

Efforts made by our correspondent to see him proved abortive as he was said to have gone upstairs to have a rest.

However, his wife, who confirmed his return, said: “He cannot talk with anybody now because his health condition deteriorated and he took some drugs prescribed by his doctor’’.

It would be recalled that the kidnappers had shot and killed Mendu’s police orderly and his driver in his vehicle when he and Nwanekezi were abducted in Awada area of Onitsha on Monday.