My Abductors Begged Me to Forgive Them – Akas Baba

For seven days, Anthony Akatakpo, popularly known as Diplomatic Akas Baba, was trapped between the devil and the deep blue sea. During that period, the radio presenter, who works with Wazobia FM in the famous Garden City, was the unwilling ‘guest’ of a band of kidnappers that stormed his home about two weeks ago.

Akatakpo’s abductors did not only shoot him in the leg before taking him away, they threatened to kill him if his wife failed to pay them a ransom of N10m.

Although they did not get the money as demanded, the criminals eventually released their victim last Thursday and thus, doused the tension that had gripped members of his family, his colleagues, friends and fans.

READ MORE AFTER THE CUT.................................................

When our correspondent visited Akatakpo recently, he looked unruffled. But it was evident from the manner in which he kept scratching his body that the brief stay in the kidnappers’ den had adversely affected his health.

“My ordeal in the kidnappers’ den is not what I wish anybody to experience. It was not a good experience,” Akatakpo said.

The popular radio presenter said the kidnappers kept him blindfolded in an uncompleted building located inside a forest and fed him only fufu, bread and water.

He recalled that as soon as they brought him to their hide-out, they asked a doctor to treat the gunshot wound they had inflicted on him.

 “They have a doctor. The first day they took me there, they gave me first aid. I was relieved to discover that no bullet lodged in my leg. They did something to reduce the pain I felt and to avoid decay,” Akatakpo added.

However, throughout his ‘incarceration’, the criminals were unusually polite to Akatakpo and they treated him in a friendly manner. But they had strict instructions not to let him off their sight even for a minute and he was careful not to incur their anger.

He said, “The two men that kept watch on me were friendly. Each time I wanted to visit the toilet, they allowed me to go without much fuss. But I had to obtain permission from them first. I was scared that if I did not do that, they might do something bad to me. Even if I wanted to sneeze or cough, I had to take permission from them or they would misinterpret my action as an attempt to send signals to rescuers lurking around the hide-out.”

Akatakpo said the two men who kept watch over him blamed his abduction on government’s failure to provide them with jobs.

“They blamed the government for their involvement in kidnapping. They said if government had created job opportunities, they would not have been involved in crime. Those that kidnapped me are all unemployed graduates from the Niger-Delta,” he said.

He added that during his discussion with the kidnappers, they said failure on the part of the government to give them jobs had forced them to take to crime.

“They said the entire Niger-Delta region had no company that could provide them with jobs, but they had established private companies on their own and their guns were the tools. They said as long as the situation did not change, they were prepared to use the weapons to make a living for themselves,” he added.

Interestingly the criminals had to plead with their victim to forgive them before they eventually released him last week.

Akatakpo said they begged him to forgive them for shooting him. They urged him to beg members of his family, especially his wife, on their behalf to pardon them for the pains they caused during the period he was held in captivity.

 “They apologised for shooting me in the leg. They begged me to forgive them from the depth of my heart and asked me to tell my wife to also forgive them for what they did to us. They confessed that what they did was uncalled for. I have forgiven them. Only God can judge them.

“When they came to my compound, they told me to open the door. But I did not because I did not invite anybody to my house. When I saw them I was really scared. They actually thought that I was being stubborn. So, they shot at the door. They gained entrance into my house by shooting at the gate and the door. When they came in, they shot me in my leg for refusing to open the door for them,” he said.