Police rescue kidnapped bank manager, arrest hotelier

Arthur Garden Hotel, Umusiome, Nkpor was last Sunday sealed off by Anambra State Government following alleged information that it was a hideout for kidnappers and the subsequent arrest of four kidnap suspects in the hotel.

The state Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ballah Nasarawa, who disclosed the arrest of the hotelier to newsmen in his office said, Mr. Christopher was picked up in Enugu after the four arrested kidnap suspects made confessions that led to the rescue of the bank manager and one Mr. Osita Okafor from Uga on August 4.  Nasarawa gave the names of the kidnap suspects as Chinedu Eze, Obumneme Madugha, Okezue Chukwuemeka and Okoro John, adding that two other branches of Arthur Garden Hotel located at Afor-Nkpor and Anglican Lane, Off Limca Road, Nkpor have also been sealed off by the police.

But in a swift reaction yesterday, the family of the hotelier disputed police’s claim that kidnappers were arrested at the hotel, challenging the command to parade the kidnappers if it was true that they made any arrest.  A spokesman for the family, Mr. Augustine Udo, who said he was the executive consultant to the hotel, insisted that no kidnapper was arrested in the hotel, alleging that the whole story was politically orchestrated to portray Christopher, the hotelier in bad light.  Meanwhile, the state police boss said the command was still on investigations aimed at arresting the kidnappers of the monarch of Ukpo, Igwe Robert Eze, who was freed last Tuesday by his abductors.