A former servant at the palace of the
traditional ruler of Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, where the mother of the Minister
of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped has said that he gave the kidnappers the
necessary information for the job.
The suspect, Chiejine Onochie, said
although the kidnappers collected N13m as ransom before the 83-year-old Prof.
Kamene Okonjo was released last December, he was not given any money and therefore,
was not culpable.
He said, “I’m 32 years old and I
worked in the palace from 2007 to 2012 after which I left because the pay was
too little. A friend of mine approached me and told me that I could make a lot
of money if I gave kidnappers information on how to get into the palace.
“However, after the operation, I did
not get a dime. It was later that I learnt that they had collected N13m as
ransom. I felt cheated and I left everything to God. I cannot be held for the
crime because when police started arresting people, I went to report at the
station voluntarily, I was not dragged to the station.”
Another suspect, Jideofor Ogbue, aka
Marvelous, who claimed to be the leader of the gang, said after gaining
entrance into the palace, he and his gang members did not force Okonjo out of
the palace but she followed them willingly after they had told her that they
were sent by President Goodluck Jonathan.
The 22-year-old 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. When the woman (Okonjo) saw us, she asked who we were and we
told her that President Goodluck Jonathan sent us from Abuja to arrest her
because her daughter (Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala) had embezzled public funds.
“We took her to Kwale and her family
paid us N13m as ransom. They packaged the money in polythene bags and dropped
it around an expressway in Benin. My share was N2m.”
Chukwuma Okoh, a suspect who claimed
to be a graduate of Accounting and Finance from Ambrose Alli University, said
he joined the gang because of unemployment. He said he was not given any money
after the operation.
He said, “I’m 31 years old and I
graduated in 2007. Since then, it has been hard to get a decent job. It was
Onochie that brought the idea of kidnapping Okonjo-Iweala’s mother.
“However, as God is my witness, I did
not receive a dime from the gang after the operation.”
The Commissioner of Police, Lagos
State Command, Umar Manko, identified other members of the gang as Michael
Ojeabulu, Endurance Oke, Ibrahim Abubakar, Buhari Hamadora and Hassan Oseni.
Manko, while parading the suspects,
said the suspects were arrested in different states comprising Edo, Enugu,
Delta and Anambra.
The police boss said contrary to
reports, kidnapping was not on the rise in Lagos.
He said, “Marvelous was arrested in
Port Harcourt after he had perfected plans to kidnap the Commissioner of
Commerce in Anambra State.
“As you can see, these kidnappers do
not operate in Lagos State, they just come and go. You therefore cannot say
kidnapping is on the rise in Lagos.”
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