Kidnapped Writer "Chibuihe Light Obi" Finally Regained His Freedom

Reports reaching us says that the Qwerri-based writer and teacher, Chibuihe Light Obi has finally regained freedom after a harrowing three days of being held hostage by unknown captors.

It was a weekend of bated breaths and twiddling thumbs as his friends woke on Saturday to news that Chibuihe Light Obi who was supposed to turn up for a literary event in the city of Nsukka was nowhere to be found.

A couple of his friends would then receive messages via his Facebook messenger which raised suspicions that he had been kidnapped in connection with an essay which he had written recently, condemning homophobia.

Chubuihe’s journey to freedom would begin on the heels of a message relayed to friends and followers on his social media page on the night of Sunday, June 4, 2017, “Isiala mbano hedqater pik him dia,” the cryptic message said.

Our correspondent gathered from a friend of Chibuihe that even though they had received the message an hour before his abductors shared the above message on Facebook, when Paulcy Cyprian Iwuala, (founder of Genius Eyes International Foundation for the Hopeless) who had been assigned to drive to the location got there, Chibuihe was nowhere to be found.

According to our source:

“Paulcy searched in the bush, no show. He went and hung around the village. And then a call came to him to come pick up Chibuihe by 6:30am (on Monday)”

“He drove off again to the police station where some corpers had taken Chibuihe to. Paulcy found him there and drove him back to Owerri.”

Our source insists that friends and family of Chibuihe Light Obi did not enter into any negotiations with his abductors, in the three days that they held him captive.

He returned with seemingly minor injuries, and when asked if hurt, we learnt Chibuihe agreed that he was hurt, but the hurt was minor. In the words of our source:

“When I asked him if he needs to go to the hospital, he said yes. But not yet“

The obviously traumatized Chibuihe however said that his abductors covered his face during his three-day ordeal, and as such he has no idea of his abductors. He has also said that his kidnappers have all the money in his account via his atm cards.

As to the reason behind his kidnap, the earlier speculations may not be far from true as the writer has told close friends and family that his abductors asked him: “so you are that lgbt rights boy.”

While condemning intolerance and such violence as what the writer had to suffer, we wish Chibuihe a quick recovery from this traumatic experience. We also hope people can eventually learn to tolerate other people’s views and accommodate differences as a necessary way to attain peaceful co-existence.

Welcome home Chibuihe Light Obi!