A former Chief Press Secretary (CPS) to Rivers State Deputy Governor Tele Ikuru, has accused his principal of ordering his kidnap. Godswill Jumbo, the former deputy governor’s aide spoke yesterday from an undisclosed location in Port Harcourt, the state capital. He urged security agencies to ensure his safety and the Department of State Security (DSS) to sanction two of its operatives who connived with hoodlums to kidnap and attempted to kill him. Ikuru was deputy to a former Governor Celestine Omehia for over five months before he (Omehia) was sacked by the Supreme Court in its landmark judgment on October 25, 2007. When Rotimi Amaechi was inaugurated as governor the next day, he retained Ikuru as his deputy. On March 22, this year, Ikuru defected from the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) to the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and Jumbo was relieved of his appointment on March 14 for undisclosed reasons. Jumbo, a stalwart of the APC, attributed his travails to his closeness to the party’s governorship candidate, Dr. Dakuku Adol Peterside. On his ordeal, Jumbo said: “At 10p.m. on May 8, some suspected hoodlums, led by the Chief Security Detail to the Deputy Governor, Abu Steve, accompanied by the Security Detail to his wife, Dr. Mina Ikuru, Peter Obidigbo, both operatives of the State Security Service (SSS), stormed my home at Flat 10, Unity Estate, Obi Wali Road, Rumuigbo, in Port Harcourt, and unleashed mayhem on me and my family. “In a Gestapo type of operation, they barged into my house, dragged me out in my underwear and descended on me with blows, guns and other dangerous weapons. While his men were dealing with me outside, Abu Steve and others ransacked my house, searching for God-knows-what. “In the course of their beating, kicking and hitting me with the butts of their guns, they told me that my political views, expressed in different media platforms, were annoying their boss (Ikuru) and making his new sojourners in the PDP wary of him. They said they could not understand how his former spokesman could be so outspoken against the party (PDP). “When they finished, they dumped me in the trunk of their car and drove off into the night, around 10.30p.m. They took me to an unknown forest, where they brought me out, marched me into the bush and were about to execute me, before a disagreement ensued among them. Some of the hoodlums opted out of the assassination plan; instead, they insisted that I should be handed over to the police on trumped-up charges. “After a few minutes of heated argument, they decided for the latter option and threw me back into the car trunk and sped off. “Around 11p.m., they brought me to the old Government Reservation Area (GRA) Police Station in Port Harcourt and asked that I should be detained on the allegation that I stole a government vehicle, a Toyota Corolla 2008 model, which is my assigned official car. They claimed that I failed to return the car, after I was relieved of my appointment." “By the morning of May 9, 2015, the Rivers State Police Commissioner, having been alerted the previous night of my abduction, demanded to know the details of the matter," Jumbo added.
