By IKURU LIZZY

Speaker of the Rivers State House of Assembly, Martin Amaewhule, Speaker, has expressed deep thanksgiving to God for surviving kidnap and assassination attempts in the past years.

Amaewhule made this known during his 52nd birthday thanksgiving service at the All Saints Anglican Church, Eliozu, Obio/Apkor Local Government Area, Rivers.

“I am not just marking another birthday but acknowledging that many people had planned to take his life in the last one year, but God didn’t allow them.’’

Recounting how he survived a harrowing experience in 2008, he said that he narrowly escaped death during the incident.

Amaewhule noted that he was abducted by some unidentified gunmen at his resident as he arrived after a Sunday church service.

“Some of you were here in 2008 when a preacher was preaching right here on a Sunday service, on that faithful day, I didn’t know the people who came to kidnap me were also in the service.

“After service, they tactically followed me to my residence, tied up my security guard and abducted me and took me to a forest where they held me hostage for five days.

“They placed thorns under my feet and inflicted several injuries on my head and body in the process of moving me from one hideout to another within the forest.

“They fed me with biscuits throughout the period even as I almost bled to death,” he said.

The speaker, however, expressed gratitude to God for his numerous blessings, guidance and preservation over the years.

“When God does things for you, it is important to appreciate him for more. (NAN)