BY ATIA TILARIOUS AZOHNWI
Nanje Kenneth Ene, Mayor of Ekondo Titi Council has been freed four days after he was kidnapped on Wednesday, August 1, 2018. He was freed Sunday, August 5 after a ransom was paid, The SUN learnt.
Gunmen stormed his residence and turned off his generator. When the mayor’s son stepped out to check what was wrong with the generator, the armed men took him and forced their way into the mayor’s house. He was then abducted and taken to an unknown destination.
Gunmen suspected to be members of the pro-independence Ambazonia Defense Forces, ADF are believed to be the brain behind the kidnap.
Nanje Kenneth Ene was until his election serving as First Deputy Mayor of the Ekondo Titi Council following the September 30, 2013 municipal elections. The ex-student of the St. Joseph’s College Sasse steps in following the demise of Mayor Mbongo Alfred Ngoe.
Kenneth Nanje Ene was elected on March 29, 2018 to replace his predecessor, late Mbongo Alfred Ngoe. He had taken up residence in Kumba shortly after his election over security concerns. He late gained courage, conquered fear and went back to Ekondo Titi.
He came to the limelight after the former mayor died as a result poor health. Mbongo’s dead came in the heat of the current social pressures.
On March 16 this year, Mbongo’s remains could not be ferried to Ekondo Titi for a befitting burial. Scores of municipal authorities were stranded at the Kumba District hospital mortuary after gunmen blocked the road.
The former mayor was later buried at the Tancha neighbourhood of Kumba III municipality. The burial came under emergency arrangements. Funeral displays back in Ekondo Titi were suspended.
Ekondo Titi is one of the largest and most populated council areas out of the nine that make up the oil-rich Ndian Division.