Two fishermen, indigenes of Okobo in Okobo Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State, have been abducted by the agents of Cameroon government.
The two fishermen, named Mr Bassey Etim, and the other whose name could not be ascertained were said to have been abducted while fishing on the Nigeria Territorial Waters by the Gendarmes.
Another fisherman, Stephen Etim, who witnessed the whole episode but escaped and returned home, told newsmen amid tears at the weekend in Uyo, that words were inadequate for him to explain the kind of treatment Nigerian Fishermen suffered presently in the hands of the Gendarmes.
According to him, the two abducted fishermen were lawfully going about their daily shores fishing when suddenly the gendarmes rounded them up, forcibly abducted them and took them to an unknown destination.
’This is not the first time that this kind of thing would happen to Nigerian fishermen doing legitimate business in that country and majority of them are from Okobo in Akwa Ibom.
The latest incidence makes the 13th time that Okobo fisher men would be kidnapped and taken into custody by Cameroon government.
Already, Stephen says he has reported the matter to the Speaker, Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and the member representing Okobo state constituency.
He used the opportunity to again appeal to both state and the federal government to look into the matter and rescue all Nigerian fishermen who are currently being held hostage by government in Yaoundé.
2014 Leadership Newspaper