The Unit Manager was reportedly abducted Thursday, July 18, 2019 along with two night watchmen, Cho Stephen and Nji Kwakwa Simon.

Ndifon is reported to have been taken away from his Idenau CDC residence at Bibunde CDC Residential area, Idenau, between the hours of 2.30am to 3.00am on Thursday, July 18, at gunpoint by a contingent of over 50 suspected armed Amba fighters, The Post reports.

Ndifon, who was already deep asleep, is said to have been joggled out of sleep by the suspected Amba Fighters after they had over-powered his two night-watchmen and then elbowed their way into his sleeping chambers and yanked him out of bed.

Ndifon’s wife is said to have been held at gunpoint and ordered to bring out all the money they had in their keeping, else, they were going to shoot her husband to death. The wife quickly complied, scuttled to where there was money and grabbed whatever amount that she could find and handed it to the armed men, according to The Post.

The English bi-weekly reports that one of the night-watchmen, Cho, who tried to resist, was whacked on the head with a machete and gravely injured. The fighters grabbed all three and hurtled them off into the darkness, by-passing the Idenau Gendarmerie Post located some 300 meters away from the BIR Camp at Idenau.

At some point on their way, one of the night-watchmen was let to go, while the manager and the injured one were taken along.

As at press time, The Post gathered that on Thursday, at about 11.00am, the GM dispatched the Human Resources Manager, Henry Mbecke, Polycarp Chungong and other administrative staffers to Idenau to assess the situation. A meeting is said to have been held with the workers of the Idenau Oil Mill who were so distraught to learn of the news in the morning hours as they came on for work.

The Idenau Oil Palm Estate is one of the few Estates of the Corporation that was trying to resume work. Its Oil Mill was the only remaining Mill, out of three, that was still operational.

As to how the suspected Amba Fighters successfully trooped in, got the Manager and went scot-free, without any intervention from either the police, gendarmerie or the BIR, is a question members of the public are asking.

As at press time, no ransom or any demand for anything for the Manager’s release had been made. The abduction comes barely some two weeks after the Minister of Agriculture visited and was informed of the difficult security situation that the CDC workers were undergoing since this crisis started, according to The Post.

The CDC workers had called on Government, just like many other quarters have done, for a dialogue to be engaged so that the crisis can be brought to an end and workers return to work under peaceful and secure conditions.