Marvelous’ alleged journey into kidnapping had been a successful one. The Aniocha Local Government Area of Delta State indigene says he ventured into the illicit trade out of frustration. He narrates:
When I came back to Nigeria from Ghana, I had no job and my parents were very poor. I met some of my classmates who were doing very well and they told me they were into kidnapping. I offered to join them because I was very poor and I needed a way out and they accepted me.
We kidnapped a businessman in Asaba and we got 20million ransom but the people I did the job with were very greedy. They gave me just N900,000, and I rented an apartment with it in Port Harcourt and I decided to form my own gang. I contacted Okoh Chukwuma aka Chuks, 32, from Isele Mkpitima in Aniocha North Local Government Area of Delta State; Michael Ojeabulu, 23, from Esan, Edo State; Buhari Amajoda, 27, Hassan Oseni, 29, and Ibrahim Abubakar, 28, from Adamawa State; Endurance Oke, 22, from Edhere Aviraha Idowu; Peter; Ifeanyi; Mohammed and Buba. Some of these guys are experienced kidnappers and we started operation.
Chuks was our scout. His job was to look for potential victims who could pay huge ransom. The first job he brought was that of his uncle who operates a popular hotel in Asaba. We picked the man on his way home and his family paid us a ransom of N10million. I got about N2million as my own share and used part of the money to open a boutique in Port Harcourt. I also bought a car. We did several jobs before the Minister’s mother’s job. When Chuks brought the job, he told us that he got the contact from the woman’s former aide who is his friend. We met with the guy identified as Chiejine Onochie and he gave us all the information we needed for the job.
At that time, we all saw that job as an opportunity to get rich and quit kidnapping. Since the woman’s daughter works for government, we felt government would assist her in paying the ransom. I had no fear of being arrested at that time because I knew there was no way we could have been traced. The negotiations for ransom were usually done with the phone of the victim and, after making our demands, we would switch off the phone, that alone will make it difficult to track our phone lines. But while we negotiated with the woman’s (Prof. Okonjo) son, he agreed to pay us N13million first as feeding money before bringing the main money, but before I knew what was happening Chuks called me and said Onochie was panicking and that he had threatened to expose us if we didn’t release the woman. I consulted other top members of the gang and they agreed we should free the woman and withhold Chuks and Onochies share of the money.
How I traded minister’s mother with poly rector, by ex-palace guard
Chiejine Onochie, a native of Ogwashi-Uku, claims to be related to the Okonjos. In this interview, he explains how he masterminded the kidnapping of Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s mum.
According to him, “my mother is a member of the Okonjo family and she is from the palace where I was working as a palace boy before I got a job at the Delta State Polytechnic, Ogwashi-Uku as a security guard.
“Sometime in August 2012, I met one Chukwuma Okoh in the room next to my girlfriend’s at the polytechnic hostel and we became friends. He told me that he was a fresh graduate of accounting from Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Edo State.
“I liked his lifestyle and we started hanging out together. After a couple of weeks, he started asking me questions about the rector of the polytechnic, Mrs. Edna Nneka Mogekwu. He asked about her security details and how she was moving about on the campus. I told him that the woman was very free and she did not move about with police or security men.
“Then he told me that he wanted her kidnapped and that, that was the reason he was around the campus. I pleaded with him not to do it because the woman is my aunt and she was the one who gave me the job I was doing. I also explained to him that the woman was not so rich, and that he shouldn’t do her any harm.
“But he refused and insisted that he was going to kidnap her. After some days, I called him and told him that I was from the Okonjo family and that I could deliver the mother of the Minister of Finance to them. He was shocked and I took him to the palace and showed him around before taking him to his bus stop where he boarded a bus back home.
“I decided to give them Mama Okonjo because I knew her daughter works for government and, if we succeeded in kidnapping her, the Federal Government would assist in paying the ransom. Few days later, which was in December, he called me and said he wanted me and members of his gang to meet, so we could plan how to kidnap mama.
Suspects to disguise as Corps members“I went and told them that they would have to disguise as corps members in search of where to work. With that I told them that they could enter the palace and probably see their target. We all agreed on that plan, but on the day they were supposed to strike, there was a renovation going on in the compound and the whole place was rowdy, so they couldn’t kidnap her.
“On the Sunday of that week, that was December 10, 2012, they asked me to go to the palace and check how the palace was. I did and told them that construction was still on but it was minimal. Some hours after, I got a call from a member of my family, asking me to rush down to the palace, that mama had been kidnapped. When I got there, the whole palace was in disarray.
“They told me how it happened and I joined them in the search and no one suspected I had a hand in it. I called Chukwuma and asked how she (mama) was faring and he said she was okay and that they had made their demands for ransom. About five days later, I got news from the palace that a ransom had been paid, but the kidnappers refused to release mama. I then called Chukwuma and asked about what was happening and he said Marvelous, who he said was the leader of the gang, said the money they collected wasn’t enough and they needed more money. I told him that wasn’t our agreement, that he should do all he could to get her released.
“In the evening of that day, mama was released and I called Chukwuma and asked for my share of the ransom. He told me that Marvelous was angry with both of us for pressurising them to free mama and vowed not to give us a dime. I was shocked. I tried reaching Marvelous but his line was switched off. I and Chukwuma were devastated but we accepted our fate.
Hotel in home town“But, in March, there is man, Danquah, a clearing agent, he was building an hotel in my home town. He called and asked me to take a key from the security man and give it to his mother. I went to the hotel with Chukwuma and when he saw the place, he was elated. He asked what my brother was doing and I told him that he was a clearing agent and he asked if my brother still had parents alive. I said it was only his mother, then he asked if we could get Marvelous and his gang to kidnap her. I said only if we could get our money from him. He called Marvelous and informed him of the new plan, but, this time, Chukwuma would have to go to our victim and tell her that some people were trying to sell her land and, when the woman comes out to confront them, she will be kidnapped.
They did as we agreed and a ransom was demanded. I didn’t go to the bush at Edo State where she was kept, but I called Chukwuma after a while to know if the ransom had been paid and he said he hadn’t heard a word from them, that all their lines were switched off. He then asked me to give him a phone number of another member of the family, so he could communicate with them. I did so; after that, he called me and said that the people had paid some money into his sister’s account and that when he gets it, he will give me my share. It was while I was waiting for my share that the police came and arrested men. I didn’t know they killed the woman, it was never part of our plan”.
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