OKONJO-IWUALA’S MOTHER: WE GOT N13M RANSOM – SUSPECT

The 22-year-old Ogbue gave a graphic account on how the gang
killed a 79-year-old woman after collecting ransom before they kidnapped
Okonjo-Iwuala’s mother. In his words: “I am Jide-Ofor Ogbue alias Marvellous.

After abducting the man, the lawyer was begging that he should
give us cheque of N1 million, but we don’t believe in cheque, so we allowed him
to go. Chuks said he had spoken to the palace guard to Okonjo Iwuala’s mother
who is the wife of the King of Ogwashi-Uku. Chuks said the palace guard has
given clue on how to gain access to the palace.

“The palace guard told us that we should procure National Youths
Service certificate and forged university degree certificate, which we did. So,
the day we entered the palace, we behaved as corpers looking for job so, we
gained entry, but we were lucky that the woman was serving some workers water.

He said they were armed with four guns and that on seeing the
gun, the victim and the workers became apprehensive, but they quickly convinced
the woman that they were security agents from the presidency.

According to him, they told the woman that her daughter
committed some fraud and that President Goodluck Jonathan needed her in Abuja.

He said the woman wanted to know why she was needed in Abuja.
“We told her that the President would explain to her.” He said while they were
moving her into a bush in Benin City, they explained to the Mrs Okonjo that she
had been kidnapped and that she should call her daughter to pay N2 billion
ransom.

When we took her to a farm in Benin, we bought a wrapper for her
to sleep on and we bought food for her. She had some drugs on her. So, we
treated her very fine and the woman kept assuring us that her daughter would
bring money.

According to Ogbue, the gang was disappointed when the Iwualas
were negotiating for small amount. “But because of the pressure from the press,
we decided to collect N13 million, dropped for us at Benin Bypass in a Nylon
bag. It was in N100 and N500 denominations. He revealed that he got N2 million
on the elderly woman, Mrs, Regina Obi who was killed by his gang after
collecting N2 million ransoms, he said.

“Actually, we collected the money but she was shot by Peter who
is on the run. Peter killed her to avenge the death of his younger brother who
was killed during exchange of gunfire with the police. I was not there when the
woman was shot but Peter explained why.

The suspect who said he had no regret that he was in police net
said: “I have entered, and I can’t come out of it. My only regret is that I was
on my way to kidnap another important personality in Anambra when I was
arrested. On his own, the palace guard, Chiejine Onochie said he was no longer
working in the palace but that he knew the in and out of the palace.

“When I was approached by Chuks. He first told me to arrange for
the kidnap of one of my aunties but I objected. He now told me to think of a
personality that could cough out as from N5 million.

I now told him that the only big family that would cough out
such amount without bunkering an eye was that of Okonjo Iwuala so the next
question was how would they gain access t the palace. He continued that he now
advised that Chuks should provide money for me to get NYSC and University
degree certificate which they would show case in the palace as corpers looking
for employment.

“We did it and they succeeded but I am just hearing from
Marvellous that they got up to N13 million but they did not give me a dime that
I provided the information that brought the job. Explaining how the suspects
were arrested, the state Commissioner of Police (CP) Umar Manko said sequel to
the arrest of one Chiejine and Chukwuma OKoh, on March 27 by men of State
Intelligence Bureau (SIB) of the command, and their subsequent confession that
they gave the information in December, 2012 that led to the kidnap of the
mother of the former Minister of Finance, Dr. Mrs Ngozi Okonjo Iwuala in Delta
State among many other kidnappings.

He said he instructed the officer in charge of Special Anti
Robbery Squad, Abba Kyari to go after the kidnappers especially the kingpin
known as Marvellous. Manko said on the strength of his instruction, men of SARS
expanded his tracking network and deployed three SARS Decoy Teams to Delta, Edo
and Rivers States which eventually led to the arrest of Jideofor Ogbue, a.k.a
Marvellous in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.

Manko said other suspects, Michael Ojeabulu, Endurance, Oke,
Ibrahim Abubakar, Buhari Hamadora and Hassan Oseni were arrested in different
locations in Edo, Enugu, Delta and Anambra States respectively.

He said the suspects also confessed that equally confessed that
they were responsible for the kidnap of one Mrs Regina Obi who as killed after
collecting N2 million ransoms from the victim’s family.

He said the leader of the gang Marvellous has also confessed
that he was on the way to Anambra State to kidnap the Honourable Commissioner
of Commerce, when he was arrested.

Manko who also paraded four suspected armed robbers who raided
VGC and killed two policemen said, “Crime is a bad business in Lagos because,
we don’t only arrest criminals but those who ran to the state from other
states.