The Dean of the Church of Nigeria (Anglican
Communion) and Archbishop of the Province of Niger
Delta, Most Rev. Ignatius Kattey yesterday said the
police had no hand in his rescue from the kidnappers
who abducted him at about 10p.m. on September 6 at
Aleto Eleme on his way back to Port Harcourt from his
home town, Alode-Eleme.
Kattey was released last Saturday after nine days in the
hands of his captors.
The cleric, while recounting his ordeal in a press
conference in his home at Alode-Eleme, said he never
set eyes on the police all through his days in captivity,
and said the police lied when they said they rescued
him.
“The police did not rescue me; they did not rescue my
wife. They may have attempted but they did not rescue
me or my wife. That the police rescued me is not true; I
walked to this place. I did not see the police throughout
my ordeal. I saw the police for the first time two days
ago.
“I told the police that the Police Public Relations
Officer (PRO) was telling lies. How can she be telling
lies? I told the police commissioner that his PRO was
telling lies. If the police will not tell the truth, who do
you expect to tell the truth?” he asked.
He said his freedom was an act of God because the
kidnappers sometimes argued over his continued stay
with them in the bush until they finally made up their
minds to free him.
“The way I was released: on Thursday evening, one of
the persons who had watched over me told one man
that was with him that they should release me. He said
this man had stayed long. The other man got furious
and threatened to shoot him for asking that I be
released. ‘What has this man given to you that you want
to release him?’ he asked his partner. That night they
moved me to another place and we stayed from
morning till night. Then one man came and said, ‘this
man will go now o!’ I thought they wanted to shoot me.
I didn’t say anything. One of them was engaged in a
phone call and said they should hold on.
“After a while, they asked me to follow them and make
sure I don’t talk to anybody. We kept moving until they
stopped a commercial motorcycle (okada) and asked
me to climb on it. They actually gave me N200 to pay
for the fare… I don’t know what actually happened but I
believe that God touched their heart.”
Kattey said in his nine days in captivity, he neither slept
under a roof nor had a bath.
“I was not tortured but I was under difficult conditions.
I slept outside in the rain and sun with my cassock. I
didn’t have my bath all these days. I was in the forest
and was moved from place to place. Feeding was once
a day; maybe by 10a.m. or 11 p.m. Sometimes, I was
given sachet water, sometimes fast food, sometimes
boli. I was left in the rain and had to lie down in the
pool of water there because I cannot stand all through
the night. I wore the same cassock, rain or shine,” he
said.
Responding to questions on whether his abductors gave
him any message to the government, Kattey said: “They
did not give me any message to deliver to anybody.
But in the bush, I asked them why they were doing this
to me? They said the government and society forced
them into what they were doing because most of them
were graduates but had nothing else to do.
“I understand that the police have arrested some
persons but they are not part of the persons I saw in
the bush. The police are holding the wrong persons and
should release them. I told the commissioner of police.
"The real people are in the bush.”
Kattey also said: “May we appeal to the federal and
state governments to as a matter of urgency review the
security situation in our dear country Nigeria. May we
also urge the leaders, especially the political class to
be sensitive to the plight of the governed by providing
the basic responsibilities of government to her citizens.
If this is done, we believe governments would have
been able to put in place strict measures that will not
allow crime breed unchecked and unreprimanded in
our nation.”
While thanking the church, Christians and Muslims for
their prayers and encouragement to his family in his
days of captivity, Kattey said he had forgiven his
abductors.
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