A lawyer, Dr Kayode Ajulo, has described the abduction of a former deputy governor of Nasarawa State, Prof. Onje Gye-Wado, as heartbreaking.
Ajulo in a statement in Abuja on Monday, said the news of the abduction of Gye-Wado came as a rude shock.
Gye-Wado regained his freedom from kidnappers Sunday night after four days.
The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Ramham Nansel, confirmed his release on Monday morning.
“He was released around 9pm yesterday (Sunday), due to sustained pressure from the search and rescue team. No ransom was paid,” he said.
But Ajulo who had earlier called for his release, said, “I am not only broken because I know Prof. Gye-Wado closely, but because I know he is not a flamboyant man.
“The former deputy governor is a man who lives simply, loves genuinely and takes life with ease. His lifestyle is simply enviable.”
He described the professor as a man of little needs, adding that he was influenced by his intellectualism and advocacy for fairness in governance which occupied him more than material things.
Ajulo said he had wondered what could make anyone break into such a simple man’s residence to adopt him, adding that he had never been a man moved by affluence even as he served as the deputy governor of Nasarawa State.
“Gye-Wado, it would be recalled, served under the current All Progressives Congress Chairman, Senator Abdullahi Adamu’s led administration in Nasarawa.
“Prof. Gye-Wado was my law lecturer at the University of Jos, Plateau State, Nigeria. A devoted Marxist whose unquenchable passion for a just society is commendable,” he said.
He described him as a very simple man who drove a simple mini-bus and would always be on a T-shirt, jeans and a pair of sandals.
“He had once queried me at the funeral of one of my colleagues and his student, the late Dr (Mrs) Bunmi Lar, why I had police escorts guiding me.
“When I told him of my abduction some years ago, he said ‘Don’t be worried, God is always there to guide his own.’
He said the statement by Gye-Wado had become his watchword whenever he needed to travel.
He commended the security agencies for swinging into action to rescue “the true patriot.”
NAN
