Seventy-five-year-old Theresa Edidi, from Ohoba in Ohaji/Egbema Local Government Area of Imo State, had just visited the site, where one of her children was building a house, took her bath and decided to take fresh air in the corridor of her house.
The time was 8p.m and the date, April 14, 2011. In fact, the unsuspecting great-grandmother only had loosely tied her wrapper when four men in a vehicle, came and whisked her away in what has now turned out to be a journey, of no return.
“As they forced her inside the waiting vehicle and sped off, she was shouting, ‘please, help, I’m in trouble! I’m in trouble!’
Some people have come to take me away! She was shouting this to the hearing of all around. Only one boy went after the vehicle and when they shot sporadically in the air, he withdrew,” her elder son, Michael Edidi, told Daily Sun.
Before her kidnap that fateful Thursday evening, she had a premonition that something tragic was looming. Indeed, in the morning of that same day, she had noticed some suspicious movements near her house and went to one Chief Rowland Nwaoha to complain.
Michael said: “She went to one of my cousins, Chief Rowland Nwaoha, and told him that she ran to my house in Lagos last year and stayed there for too long. She told him that the same people that made her to run away from the village last year were back. She also told him how she saw two of them, sleeping in one of her neighbour’s house. She also told Nwaoha not to fail to tell us if anything happened to her.”
Last year, precisely, April, Michael received a phone call and the caller ordered him to pay N10 million into a certain bank account or his mother would be kidnapped. The embattled pharmacist explained that as he was negotiating with the caller and inquiring about the account number to personally pay the money into, he (caller) smelled a rat and asked him to bring the money to Port Harcourt.
“They called on phone and terrorised me and I went to the village and took my mother out and switched off my phone. I reported the matter to the police, they even arrested some of them and killed one Samson. They called again and threatened that the death of Samson would cause me what I would live to regret. Maybe, that’s why they’ve killed my mother. That’s what I’m living to regret now,” he lamented.
After the mother of nine children (eight males and one female) was kidnapped, her abductors requested N15 million ransom. But after negotiation, they agreed to collect N1 million.
Before he sent the money, Michael said he reported the matter to the Imo State Police Command and solicited the help of an officer. Apart from the N1 million, detectives from the command asked him to pay extra N200,000, to enable them to sew in microchips into the bag to be able to locate where the kidnappers were.
He disclosed how he collected the money from the bank at about 11 am and gave it to the police at noon but the police did not get back to him till about 7pm, when they called him on phone to inform him that they couldn’t send the money to the kidnappers that day as, “we did not have enough men to take the money to the kidnappers.”
“And the criminals were threatening me and my brothers all through that day. They said we should be held responsible for anything that happens to our mother. They said they knew our plans with the police. I was scared and I didn’t want my mother to be hurt. So, I ordered that the money be taken to them,” Michael said (in tears). After receiving the N1 million, the kidnappers assured him that their mother would be released in the next 20 minutes.
“I waited the whole night and didn’t hear from them. They switched off their phones from April 19 that we paid the money. They never called anybody again till after one month.” The grieving man said the next thing he saw was a text message, informing him that his mother had been buried. The kidnappers also told him that they were not done with the family yet. According to him, they told him explicitly that he, the junior brother and his wife were the next target. “They said they would clear the whole family. I tried to call them, to ask what we did wrong, since we were not staying in the village. One of the principal suspects even boasted that he would soon be the traditional ruler of my town.”
“He said if he becomes the Eze of the town, we would relocate to another village. I don’t have the guns to fight them, I had to make calls to the police again, paid them to get the call data profile, to enable us know where the people are, at least, to find out if the woman is actually dead. If dead, to take her body for burial.”
After he paid the Imo State police command, the detectives were not able to get the call data profile.
To add salt to injury, the policemen became hostile each time he went to inquire about the progress made in the case. Even when the family saw some of the suspects and alerted the police command, the response they got was, ‘why are you bothering us? After all, the woman is old.’ Michael, who was shocked by the response they were getting from the policemen that were supposed to protect the citizens and punish criminals, fumed. “Yes, if she is old, at least, she has the right to fair burial. She has some children and I think, with the United Nations human rights, everybody has a right to life, freedom, whether she is old or not. I think she deserves those rights.”
Even lodging complaints at the Zone 9 police headquarters, Umuahia, Abia State, did not help their case but their hopes were raised recently, when his younger brother contacted some detectives from the anti-kidnapping section, Imo State Police Command and they swung into action, after the new CP ordered them to go after the kidnappers.
When the culprits learnt that one of the bandits had been arrested, they armed themselves with knives and axes and attacked some people, who were suspected to have given out information to the police.
“As I talk to you now, the guy they attacked is lying critically ill at the hospital. Up till now, the Imo State command has not done anything to find out why that man was attacked. Everybody knows who the attackers are and they have not been arrested by the police. They said they would bury alive, anybody who opposed them. That was why they went after the guy. When they failed to kill him, they went and kidnapped one of his aunties. They have the money and the weapons, but as a civil servant, all the money I made had been spent on this matter, trying to get justice.”
He also disclosed efforts made by the family to find out where his mother was buried, adding that they were able to arrest a native doctor, who had made confessional statements to the police, indicting some people in the town. Two of the indicted persons have been arrested by detectives from the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Adeniji Adele, Lagos. “We have used the little money we have to chase after criminals. I don’t want to take laws into my hands.
The Federal Government should help us, we don’t have the wherewithal to fight the gang. As I told you, I don’t sleep anymore. I always wake up at 2 am because of fear for my life. They keep bugging my phone. I can’t go to my village anymore. I think I have right to that village. There are no cases of kidnappings in Ohaji, except in my town. The suspect is very powerful, when they arrested his father, in respect of this matter, he (father) was left off the hook immediately.”
One thing Mr. Michael is concerned about now is how to retrieve the body of his mother to give her a decent burial. “She is not alive, even the native doctor, who prepared charms for the kidnappers confirmed that she had died. It might have been as a result of cold and trauma. Remember, she was almost naked when they abducted her, because she was resting in the corridor, taking fresh air, when they came.
Michael has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, and narrated the kidnap saga and the likelihood of his mother’s death in the bush. He also appealed for assistance to help him to recover the body.
The IG has, however, directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of ‘D’ Department (FCID), to investigate the matter.
The time was 8p.m and the date, April 14, 2011. In fact, the unsuspecting great-grandmother only had loosely tied her wrapper when four men in a vehicle, came and whisked her away in what has now turned out to be a journey, of no return.
“As they forced her inside the waiting vehicle and sped off, she was shouting, ‘please, help, I’m in trouble! I’m in trouble!’
Some people have come to take me away! She was shouting this to the hearing of all around. Only one boy went after the vehicle and when they shot sporadically in the air, he withdrew,” her elder son, Michael Edidi, told Daily Sun.
Before her kidnap that fateful Thursday evening, she had a premonition that something tragic was looming. Indeed, in the morning of that same day, she had noticed some suspicious movements near her house and went to one Chief Rowland Nwaoha to complain.
Michael said: “She went to one of my cousins, Chief Rowland Nwaoha, and told him that she ran to my house in Lagos last year and stayed there for too long. She told him that the same people that made her to run away from the village last year were back. She also told him how she saw two of them, sleeping in one of her neighbour’s house. She also told Nwaoha not to fail to tell us if anything happened to her.”
Last year, precisely, April, Michael received a phone call and the caller ordered him to pay N10 million into a certain bank account or his mother would be kidnapped. The embattled pharmacist explained that as he was negotiating with the caller and inquiring about the account number to personally pay the money into, he (caller) smelled a rat and asked him to bring the money to Port Harcourt.
“They called on phone and terrorised me and I went to the village and took my mother out and switched off my phone. I reported the matter to the police, they even arrested some of them and killed one Samson. They called again and threatened that the death of Samson would cause me what I would live to regret. Maybe, that’s why they’ve killed my mother. That’s what I’m living to regret now,” he lamented.
After the mother of nine children (eight males and one female) was kidnapped, her abductors requested N15 million ransom. But after negotiation, they agreed to collect N1 million.
Before he sent the money, Michael said he reported the matter to the Imo State Police Command and solicited the help of an officer. Apart from the N1 million, detectives from the command asked him to pay extra N200,000, to enable them to sew in microchips into the bag to be able to locate where the kidnappers were.
He disclosed how he collected the money from the bank at about 11 am and gave it to the police at noon but the police did not get back to him till about 7pm, when they called him on phone to inform him that they couldn’t send the money to the kidnappers that day as, “we did not have enough men to take the money to the kidnappers.”
“And the criminals were threatening me and my brothers all through that day. They said we should be held responsible for anything that happens to our mother. They said they knew our plans with the police. I was scared and I didn’t want my mother to be hurt. So, I ordered that the money be taken to them,” Michael said (in tears). After receiving the N1 million, the kidnappers assured him that their mother would be released in the next 20 minutes.
“I waited the whole night and didn’t hear from them. They switched off their phones from April 19 that we paid the money. They never called anybody again till after one month.” The grieving man said the next thing he saw was a text message, informing him that his mother had been buried. The kidnappers also told him that they were not done with the family yet. According to him, they told him explicitly that he, the junior brother and his wife were the next target. “They said they would clear the whole family. I tried to call them, to ask what we did wrong, since we were not staying in the village. One of the principal suspects even boasted that he would soon be the traditional ruler of my town.”
“He said if he becomes the Eze of the town, we would relocate to another village. I don’t have the guns to fight them, I had to make calls to the police again, paid them to get the call data profile, to enable us know where the people are, at least, to find out if the woman is actually dead. If dead, to take her body for burial.”
After he paid the Imo State police command, the detectives were not able to get the call data profile.
To add salt to injury, the policemen became hostile each time he went to inquire about the progress made in the case. Even when the family saw some of the suspects and alerted the police command, the response they got was, ‘why are you bothering us? After all, the woman is old.’ Michael, who was shocked by the response they were getting from the policemen that were supposed to protect the citizens and punish criminals, fumed. “Yes, if she is old, at least, she has the right to fair burial. She has some children and I think, with the United Nations human rights, everybody has a right to life, freedom, whether she is old or not. I think she deserves those rights.”
Even lodging complaints at the Zone 9 police headquarters, Umuahia, Abia State, did not help their case but their hopes were raised recently, when his younger brother contacted some detectives from the anti-kidnapping section, Imo State Police Command and they swung into action, after the new CP ordered them to go after the kidnappers.
When the culprits learnt that one of the bandits had been arrested, they armed themselves with knives and axes and attacked some people, who were suspected to have given out information to the police.
“As I talk to you now, the guy they attacked is lying critically ill at the hospital. Up till now, the Imo State command has not done anything to find out why that man was attacked. Everybody knows who the attackers are and they have not been arrested by the police. They said they would bury alive, anybody who opposed them. That was why they went after the guy. When they failed to kill him, they went and kidnapped one of his aunties. They have the money and the weapons, but as a civil servant, all the money I made had been spent on this matter, trying to get justice.”
He also disclosed efforts made by the family to find out where his mother was buried, adding that they were able to arrest a native doctor, who had made confessional statements to the police, indicting some people in the town. Two of the indicted persons have been arrested by detectives from the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Adeniji Adele, Lagos. “We have used the little money we have to chase after criminals. I don’t want to take laws into my hands.
The Federal Government should help us, we don’t have the wherewithal to fight the gang. As I told you, I don’t sleep anymore. I always wake up at 2 am because of fear for my life. They keep bugging my phone. I can’t go to my village anymore. I think I have right to that village. There are no cases of kidnappings in Ohaji, except in my town. The suspect is very powerful, when they arrested his father, in respect of this matter, he (father) was left off the hook immediately.”
One thing Mr. Michael is concerned about now is how to retrieve the body of his mother to give her a decent burial. “She is not alive, even the native doctor, who prepared charms for the kidnappers confirmed that she had died. It might have been as a result of cold and trauma. Remember, she was almost naked when they abducted her, because she was resting in the corridor, taking fresh air, when they came.
Michael has petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Hafiz Ringim, and narrated the kidnap saga and the likelihood of his mother’s death in the bush. He also appealed for assistance to help him to recover the body.
The IG has, however, directed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in-charge of ‘D’ Department (FCID), to investigate the matter.
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