Four months after the abduction of Prof. Kamene Okonjo, the mother of the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, two of those accused of involvement in the incident, Monday narrated how they carried out her kidnapping.
She was kidnapped from the palace of the traditional ruler of Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, in December.
From their narration, a disagreement over the N13 million, which they said was paid as ransom to secure the release of Okonjo caused a rift among them that facilitated police investigation into the abduction.
One of the suspects, Chiejine Onochie, a palace aide, who played a role in planning Okonjo’s abduction, was the first to
confess how they plotted the kidnapping when the police paraded him and other suspects before journalists in Lagos Monday.
Although Onochie claimed he was not involved in the crime, he said he only gave the kidnappers the details needed for the abduction, adding that despite the fact that the kidnappers collected N13 million as ransom, he was not given his share.
Besides Onochie, other suspects arrested in connection with the kidnapping after a massive manhunt that spanned Delta, Edo and Rivers States are Michael Ojeabulu, Endurance Oke, Ibrahim Abubakar, Buhari Hamadora, Jideofor Ogbue, Chukwuma Okoh and Hassan Oseni.
The police also recovered five AK 47 rifles, 31 rounds of live ammunition and one Honda Civic coupe with registration number FST 502 BC.
Onochie’s disclosure that the kidnappers got N13 million as ransom negates previous claims by the Delta State Government and the state police command that Okonjo was released without the payment of ransom. The suspects maintained that Okonjo was released only after the payment of the N13 million ransom.
Onochie, who blamed hunger for his foray into crime, said: “I grew up inside the palace and had been living there since I was five years old. All through my stay, I was never paid a dime. It was hunger that led me to organize the kidnapping of the queen.
“Having thought of how best to make money, I realized that I could organize the kidnapping of the queen and one of the things I discovered while I was in the palace was the lack of security presence there. This was at the peak of kidnapping in Delta State.
“As a back-up, I invited one of my friends, Chukwuma Okoh, to discuss my plans and he sourced and invited other members of the gang. Three days later, I met with his deputy, Jideofor Ogbue, alias Marvellous.
“Prior to the kidnapping, the 12-man gang stayed in the village without anybody suspecting anything; but it was only five members of the gang that went inside the palace.
“Marvellous, who was armed, approached the victim, claiming to be from the presidency. He claimed they were ordered to arrest and bring the finance minister to Abuja, having been implicated in a fraud case.
“She (Okonjo) refused to follow us but we bundled her into the back of one of the vehicles that was waiting outside. With her eyes blind folded, we drove off firing sporadic shots into the air to scare away anybody.
“She was taken to Kwale, Delta State, and we fed her with bread and at times rice. We started giving her rice when we became sure that they were going to pay the ransom demanded.”
Though Onochie said he was not given part of the ransom, Marvellous disputed his claim, saying he got N700,000, while Okoh got N500,000.
On how they carried out the abduction, Marvellous said: “It was my friend, Ifeanyi, that informed me about the operation. On the day of the kidnap, we had no difficulty because Onochie had told us that the security around the palace was lax. Although 12 of us were involved in the operation, only eight actually went to the palace.
“We went with three AK47 rifles and a pump action rifle. We took her to Kwale and her family paid us N13 million as ransom. They packaged the money in nylon bags and dropped it around an expressway in Benin. My share was only N2 million.
“On the day the money was paid, three of us waited at the Benin bypass having been in close contact with the family members. The money was in N1,000 and N500 denominations and was carefully concealed in a black polythene bag.”
Confirming their arrests, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, said the confessional statements of Onochie and Okoh in March to men of the State Investigation Bureau (SIB) led to the arrest of other gang members.
Based on the information at their disposal, he said he directed the Officer-in-Charge of the state Anti Robbery Squad (SAR), Mr. Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, to go after the gang and they extended their dragnet to Delta, Edo and River States.
He said they eventually arrested Marvellous at his hideout in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and his arrest led to the rounding up of five others.
Manko said kidnapping was not on the rise in Lagos contrary to reports, noting that the suspects were arrested in Port Harcourt after they had perfected plans to kidnap the commissioner of commerce in Anambra State.
… gang kills 72-year-old woman after collecting ransom
Meanwhile, the same gang of kidnappers also confessed to killing a 72-year-old woman, Regina Obi, after collecting a ransom of N2m from her family.
The suspects told PUNCH Metro that Obi was killed because one of their gang members was killed during a gun duel with the police some days earlier.
Onochie said, “After the first operation in which I was not paid, they approached me again for another operation and told me that they would pay me this time around. They said they needed information about the family of Obi, who owns a big hotel in Delta State.
“I traced the residence of their mother and told them how they could kidnap her. She sells land so I told the gang to tell her that they had a good deal and when she follows them to conclude transactions, they should kidnap her.”
Marvelous said he was not around on the day Obi was killed. He however said it was another gang member, Peter, that pulled the trigger.
“We demanded N2m from the family and they paid immediately. However, because Peter’s brother had been killed during a police raid some days ago, he took the anger out on the old lady and killed her. I did not kill anybody; I’m a kidnapper, not a murderer,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment