Chairman of Ukum Local Government Area, Benue State, Rev. Gideon Haanongon has narrated his experience in captivity.
He revealed that he was cured of acute idiopathic pollakiuria with the help of the bandits that abducted him, penultimate Saturday.
It was reported that the LGA boss was released last Wednesday, by his kidnappers. They kidnapped Haanongon alongside his driver, police orderly and personal assistant while going for the burial of Ter Katsina-Ala, Chief Benjamin Fezaanga Wonbo.
Speaking to journalists at the 72 Battalion in Makurdi on Thursday, the released chairman said that the persistent pressure mounted on the kidnappers by military personnel helped his release and that of his personal assistant who were abducted.
Narrated how his sickness was cured by the bandits, Haanongon said; “At that point, I told my driver to stop the car and they took us (himself and personal assistant) straight into the bush. They covered my face throughout the period of my captivity. I did not know when it was daytime or night. They kept us inside a thatched house without air.
Each day, the soldiers would come shooting but they manoeuvred their way through a bush path and hid us inside a river. The soldiers destroyed their camps and they kept moving us to another place.
They did not feed me because they did not have food themselves to eat. I was urinating often so they gave me banana leaves and it stopped.
At a point, they told me that these soldiers were disturbing them because of me and that the governor had appealed to them to release me and he would forgive them.
They said I should tell the governor to keep to his words and get them out of the bush. So, at about 8pm on Wednesday, we crossed a stream and trekked a very long distance almost like from Makurdi to Abinsi and they removed the blindfold and asked me to take a path that leads to Zaki-Biam.
But I recognised the village which is Tse Wombo in Katsina-Ala because my daughter is married there. I must appreciate immensely the efforts of the military because it was their persistent pressure that made the kidnappers to release me.
Also, the Special Adviser to Governor Hyacinth Alia on Security, Lt. Col. Alexander Ashungu (retd.), played a significant role in my release.”
