Barely one week after his release by his abductors in Delta State, Mr. Ebikeme Clark, son of Ijaw leader, Chief Edwin Clark, yesterday, recounted his sad and dehumanising experience, saying that for three days, he was beaten and maltreated. Narrating his ordeal when the South-South community in Abuja, led by its Interim Chairman, Chief Charles Okosun, paid his father, Chief Clark, a visit at his Asokoro residence, following the release of his kidnapped son, Ebikeme said that he pleaded with the kidnappers to spare his life for the sake of his family and little children, adding that the kidnappers threatened to kill him when they put a call to his father and demanded for N50 million and his father said he had no such amount.
Ebikeme said that while they had demanded for N50 million from his father, they also asked him to raise N10 million from his wife. Meanwhile, Chief Clark, who thanked the South-South community for the visit, said that when the kidnappers called him on Thursday of that week, a day after the kidnap, they demanded for N50 million, but he told them that as an old man, he would be able to raise N5 million, adding that he did not hear from them until Saturday when they said he should bring the N5 million. “I told them I could not get money on Saturday, but could only raise N2 million that day. They gave me until 12 noon to raise the money, but the Security Adviser and Tompolo said I should not give them any money.”
Chief Clark added that it was at that point that one of his sons told him that Ebikeme had been released, but he appealed to the youths that “when you are hungry do not do abominable things.”