Abducted Vanguard columnist Kogbara freed after 11 days – Nigerian Police

An abducted columnist working for the Nigerian newspaper, Vanguard was freed on Saturday after being taken from her home in Port Harcourt by unknown gunmen and held for 11 days, police said.

 “Donu Kogbara has been freed by her abductors in the early hours of today, 4:00 a.m.,” said Rivers state police spokesman Ahmad Muhammad, without saying if a ransom had been paid. 

“We can confirm she has been reunited with her family.” Kidnapping for ransom is common in Nigeria’s southern oil producing regions, where many criminal gangs operate.

The Vanguard columnist, looked calm as she spoke to journalists who rushed to her residence as news of her release by kidnappers filtered into Port Harcourt, Rivers State capital, yesterday morning.

The state Police Commissioner, Mr. Musa Kimo, was probably her first visitor about 6:30 am whenSunday Vanguard got there. It was clear she had just finished sipping a cup of Lipton tea. The empty tea cup was still on the  table by her side.

Occasionally, she laughed as she tried to make light her experience in the hands of the kidnappers.

"I was dumped in the middle of the creeks, leading to nowhere around 10 pm on Friday. And they forced an innocent fisherman to take me to Borokiri," she recalled, laughing.

You could see desperation on the part of the journalists to catch every word that came out of her as she responded to their questions.

"I am very happy to say that I have been released. I am alive, that is all that matters despite all the things that were lost in the robbery that preceded the abduction. I thank Vanguard Newspaper, my paper, for the love and support that I received from my colleagues and Uncle Sam Amuka, the publisher. He was actually the first person called when I was abducted," Kogbara said.