Mikel Obi’s Father Regains Freedom, Recounts Ordeal

Michael Obi

Relief and joy came the way of the Obi family yesterday following the eventual rescue of Pa Michael Obi, Mikel’s father, from his abductors, by the Kano State Police Command. The father of the Chelsea of England’s midfielder was kidnapped by some hoodlums 12 days ago.

The state Police Commissioner Ibrahim Idris, who paraded all five suspects before reporters in Kano, said the kidnappers were apprehended in Kabuga Quarters of the commercial city of Kano.

He said the suspected kidnappers included one Ifeanyi Esseit, Ndubisi Friday, Basil Chukwumah, a woman - Nkechi Ossai - and a Nigerien national, Sule Ibrahim, who all camouflaged as soldiers, using a vehicle painted in military colours.

The police commissioner said: “A team of police officers from Plateau State in collaboration with officers in Kano raided a neighbourhood in Kabuga Quarters of Kano city at around 3.30 pm yesterday after a tipoff gathered from a dismissed police corporal, Jacob Kowen.”

Narrating his ordeal, the traumatised father of the footballer, Elder Obi, told reporters that he was subjected to severe inhuman treatment. He said: “I was taken right deep into the bush in an isolated area in Jos. I started begging them, yet they beat me mercilessly, kicking me with their boots. They are five of them and they were dressed in military uniforms.

“They pushed me into a vehicle painted in military colour and began to drive very fast. I never knew a vehicle can fly like that.” The police said at the moment, they had launched an intensive investigation to ascertain whether or not, the arrested suspects were members of the Nigerian Army.

For the older Obi, Friday, August 12 will forever remain a date to remember.
Instead of the usual day that heralds the weekend, August 12 turned out a nightmare: a day he wished never came up. However, the figure 12 has turned out very significant in the ordeal of Pa Obi. Consider this: during the time of his father's disappearance for 12 days, Mikel continued playing for Chelsea in his jersey number 12, the same date the kidnappers chose to unleash the terror on the Obi family.
Initially, the Plateau Police Command insisted that those who seized Obi Snr were not kidnappers. They made all attempts to make the matter look ordinary, until the abductor made their ransom demand. 

The family received two calls from the abductors, who first warned them that Obi Snr had been taken out of Jos.
Few hours after the first call, a second call from the kidnappers informed the family the location of the car Mikel’s father was driving before they took him.
Tony, the eldest of the Obi siblings, indeed confirmed that the car was found in Jos, but declined to say where.

The older Obi, a former footballer also in his college days at St Theresa’s School in Jos, was also a civil servant before his son, Mikel, set up the Inter-State Transport Company Limited, located at Angwan Soya, Jos for his father to run. Pa Obi has eight children, including the Chelsea player. Mikel and Ebele grew up inheriting the innate soccer skill from their father which has brought nothing but fame, honour and wealth to the family.

While Mikel plays as a midfielder with Chelsea FC, the other sibling, Ebele plays for the Nigeria Premier League (NPL) club, Enugu Rangers.

In what would have been his first attempt in his football career with Gombe XI, a local club, Obi Snr’s dream was aborted by the Nigerian Civil War that lasted from 1967-1970.

Recalling with nostalgia he said: “When I was playing, there was no money and in appreciation of your performance, the most people could do was to buy you a drink.”
As was his custom, he drove himself to work on that fateful August 10 when he was accosted and kidnapped.
He is described as a devout Christian who wouldn’t miss his afternoon mass for anything as confirmed by his wife, Irosu.

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