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Confessions of Undergraduate Kidnappers

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Even as students, they own cars and live big on campus. They tell the sordid tales of their involvement in kidnapping, the money they make and how they got recruited into the booming business of holding people hostage for money

The phenomenon began in the Niger Delta region as a freedom fight by militants protesting the degradation of their environment by oil industry activities. But it soon turned into a money making avenue through kidnapping of expatriate oil workers for huge ransoms. Since then, kidnapping has become a daily occurrence and it has spread throughout the South-South states of Edo, Bayelsa, Rivers, Cross River, Akwa Ibom and the South-East states of Abia, Imo and Anambra. The South-West has not been left out. There are occasional brushes with the daring young men in Ondo and Lagos states.

Across the states with high incidence of kidnappings, many youths have taken to the business of kidnapping. Many of them even have godfathers working behind the scene. And in states hitherto considered as peace havens, people can no longer sleep with their two eyes closed. This is the situation in Cross River where undergraduates of the Cross River University of Technology, CRUTECH, Calabar, have unleashed terror on inhabitants of the state capital. The city whose unofficial full meaning is ‘Come And Live And Be At Rest,’ CALABAR, had prided itself in the past as Paradise City. Cross River State is also widely regarded as Nigeria’s tourism hub. The state boasts of a Ranch resort -Obudu Cattle Ranch, which has the longest cable car in the world. There is also TINAPA, a free trade zone. Calabar is believed to be Nigeria’s cleanest city. Its roads are well tarred and swept daily.

In 2006, Donald Duke, then governor, capped these tourism potentials with the annual Calabar Festival. For 32 days, November 30 to January 1, the spirit of hospitality would hover over Calabar. There would be choral competitions and boat regatta to whet the appetite of tourists for the grand finale termed ‘Africa’s biggest street party.’ Top local and foreign musicians have entertained tourists at Calabar, since the carnival debuted. Among them were the late Lucky Dube, Akon, Fat Joe, Young Jeezy, Nelly and Kirk Franklin.

But Calabar is fast losing its status of a peaceful city. Gangs have almost held the city hostage, kidnapping businessmen and women for millions of Naira ransom, and in some cases, children for ritual purposes. Child trafficking is rampant, particularly on the territorial waters and borders. In June 2010, 56 children were rescued and handed over to the National Agency for Prohibition against Traffic in Persons, NAPTIP. On March 17, 2010, Philomena Ekpe, judge of a Calabar High Court, sentenced to death Ayere Godsgift alias Alex for the murder of Joseph Okon Edem Jnr., a student of Grace and Gold Nursery and Primary School, Calabar. Godsgift had kidnapped the kid from his school, and taken him to Ikom, about 300 kilometres away from the state capital. He demanded a ransom of three million Naira from the boy’s father who was his former employer. When the victim’s father on police advice filled a bag with papers and covered it with N500,000 cash and deposited it at Border Road, the kidnapper was enraged. He strangled the boy in the bush. Also, on November 15, last year, Okon Itam, another judge of the State High Court, sentenced Godwin Ibanga Usen to death for the murder of Juliet, his wife on June 2, 2007, with a cutlass.

On Tuesday November 1, 2011, residents of State Housing Estate, Calabar, were spellbound as a 13-year-old girl and banana hawker was pulled out of a deep freezer in a house marked 2, Obot Close. The kidnapper was believed to have lured the girl into the uncompleted building and kept her in the freezer preparatory for ritual. The suspect, a wealthy rice and tomato merchant who allegedly owns many shops at the popular Marian Market in the town, was almost lynched by the enraged residents of the estate but for police intervention. Even so, they set ablaze his two vehicles – a Toyota Corolla and a sport utility vehicle, SUV.

The recent series of kidnappings and armed robberies have spread fear and insecurity in an otherwise peaceful city. CRUTECH undergraduates have formed notorious gangs to terrorise the city’s inhabitants. Newswatch investigations showed that between November 2010 and April 2011, many people, especially businessmen and women, have been robbed and kidnapped. In November last year, Monica Ijeoma Ugorji, owner of Splendour Hotel along Flour Mill Road, Calabar, and one of her house helps were kidnapped by the gang. The hotelier who hailed from Owuahiafor, Obingwa local government area of Abia State, was held captive for 56 days during which they assaulted her severely.

Worried by the sordid tales she was allowed to relay to her husband on phone, the family had to pay a ransom of N24.5 million. The couple has since relocated to another state for fear of further attacks by some of the armed men still on the run. Some of the kidnappers’ collaborators have reportedly taken over her hotel and other businesses.

On November 25, 2010, the undergraduate kidnappers descended on Chinwe Onyekaozuru, a female Customs officer, and Chizoba Christian, her sister, in their home at Etteta Ita Street, Calabar. The kidnappers took their laptops, phones and cash and herded the victims into Chinwe’s Toyota Avalon car with registration number BX 937 RSH and drove them to an unknown destination. The next morning, the Calabar undergraduate terror kingpins linked up with Martins, the Customs officer’s husband, and asked for a ransom of N75 million. He parted with three million Naira to secure the release of his wife and her sister on December 9, 2010.

Calabar residents also woke up to a stunning, heart-wrenching news of kidnappings on April 30, 2011. The previous day, April 29, seven-month pregnant Ifeoma Ugochukwu had had a good day with sales proceeds of about N330,000 from the family’s Favourite Supermarket on Marian Road. She drove happily to her residence at 37B, Nkonib Layout, Ikot Ansa, Calabar, with Wisdom, her one and a half year-old son. But as soon as she got to the gate, armed men stormed. They snatched her Hyundai Sonata car and kidnapped mother and son around 9.45p.m. “They drove off with my son and me at the back of the car. I was asked to hold my head down with guns held on my tummy by one of them. He told me that if I should make a mistake of bringing up my head, I will be shot,” she told investigators, adding “within few minutes, we were transferred to another car and taken to an unknown destination.” Policemen later recovered her car along the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, depot road in the town.

The following day, the kidnappers called Chijioke Ugochukwu, her husband, to pay $1 million or N150 million for the release of his wife, her pregnancy and son at N50 million each. After a protracted negotiation spanning one month, the kidnappers smiled away with N10 million paid in two installments of N5 million each through a priest at Abak, Akwa Ibom State. Newswatch found that one of the kidnappers on the run hails from Abak.

Two other families – Adisa and Okoro – have also tasted the bitter pills of Calabar’s terror undergraduates. Adisa, said to be an engineer, was beaten to pulp when he tried to stop the kidnappers from raping his wife in his presence. Badly beaten and unconscious, the gang took him for dead and went away with his wife and delectable daughter. Helpless, Adisa raised money and reportedly paid a fat ransom to secure the release of his wife and daughter.

Vincent Okoro, the Calabar sales representative of Vita Foam Nigeria PLC, was kidnapped and held for one week. He was blindfolded throughout his captivity. He has almost lost his sight today. Despite the torture, he refused to pay ransom but offered his life. Taken aback by his intransigent attitude and the futility of holding him captive indefinitely, the kidnappers freed him.

But the world of the terror undergraduates began to collapse on June 3. At about 12 noon that day, Onyekaozuru and his wife, while driving along Calabar Road, sighted Ike Chinedu Azuoma alias Taller, one of her kidnappers. The suspect also saw his victim and took to his heels. But he was caught and handed over to the police. Once in police net, he began to sing like the canary. In his confessional statement, he said he hailed from Ubiari village in Mbaitoli local government area of Imo State. Chinedu claimed he was a 300 level student of CRUTECH, with matriculation number 08/CIT/065. He listed Ididiong Utin, Uya Wills alias Colonel, Krobo Phillip Atuduhor alias Crush alias Black, and others whose surnames were not stated-Candy, Dominic and Young Man-as members of a gang that had terrorised Calabar residents for a long time. At the time of the kidnappings, Ididiong was a final year engineering student of CRUTECH and hailed from Akwa Ibom. Colonel, believed to hail from Abak in Akwa Ibom State, was said to be an engineering student at the University of Lagos. He drives a black Toyota Avalon. Krobo, a 500 level mechanical engineering student at CRUTECH, drives a Mazda 626. Colonel is the main man who always made contacts wherever anybody was held and kept by them,” Chinedu claimed.

Taller told his interrogators further that Ididiong was the gang’s leader and lived at 12/15 Usoro Street, Calabar, where all their victims were held. “On one occasion, Ididiong called me to Usoro Street. On reaching there, he directed me to one room where I met one woman and her son who were held by Ididiong. I gave her my chaplet which she used in praying. I am a messenger to Ididiong and he promised me N50,000. Dominic was equally in that room with the woman and son,” he confessed.

Also in the confession, he recollected the ordeal of Chinwe, the Customs officer kidnapped in December 2010. “While in Ididiong’s house, I heard a noise. When I asked, he told me that he has a ‘maga’ and that he would increase my money. At a point, they threatened to kill Chinwe. I now told the woman to give me her husband’s phone number which I used in calling her husband,” he said in the statement dated June 6, 2011. From the ransoms of three million Naira and N10 million paid for the release of Chinwe Onyekaozuru and Ifeoma Ugochukwu, Chinedu claimed he was given N118,000.

Habu Sani, a chief superintendent of police,  at the police headquarters, Calabar, in his report dated June 7, 2011, noted that when a search was carried out by operatives, “one locally made single barrel pistol with one live cartridge, one locally made revolver pistol with four live .9mm ammunition and one expended .9mm ammunition, one mask, one LG LCD TV, Daewoo refrigerator, 3 (three) electric generators, some photographs of his gang members and girl friends, a roll of plaster which the kidnappers used in tying their victims’ mouths among others and other household properties were recovered from Ike Chinedu and Ididiong Utin’s houses.” He noted further that the kidnap victims identified Chinedu and the photograph of Ididiong who is on the run.

It was at this stage that A-Zee Intel Network Ltd., a security consultancy firm, became involved in the crime fighting mechanism. Newswatch gathered that the firm developed an intelligence network that led to the arrest of four more members of the gang. These were the twin brothers Innocent Ikor-Ishor Odey alias Nino and Emmanuel Ikor-Ishor Odey alias Mystical, Krobo alias Crush alias Black and Kosiso Chukwu Nnoli. The last suspect was nabbed in Enugu. In his confessional statement dated June 16, 2011, Innocent, first of the twin brothers, said he is a 2008 Physiology graduate of the University of Calabar and that while in school, he was initiated into the Black Axe confraternity and was given the ‘bush’ name Kokoroko. He, however, said he renounced membership of the cult after he graduated.

On his return to Calabar sometime in 2010, he claimed he ran into Crush. Being members of the same cult, they got on well and soon began to discuss business. “He told me if I will like to make money and drive cars. I told him why not? He told me if I had the heart he was ‘snowed’ in kidnapping. It was so funny when he said it and I asked: ‘you kidnapper?’ How and why do you think I have the mind to be kidnapping people? He said ‘am only telling you because of brothers that we are.’ Crush told me that they have already done a job, that they were the people that kidnapped the Splendour Hotel (owner), that they brought two boys from Akwa Ibom State who helped them clear the cash but the boys cleared the first one and went off with the money, so they were now compelled to clear the remaining cash themselves.

 “He said I should meet with him in the evening. So I went. He called a boy to come. The boy now came with arms in a bag. He told me that the boy’s role was to take care of the hostage, that the last job they did, they gave him N1,000,000; that their next target is to kidnap Divine Favour (Chijioke Ugochukwu). I told him no problem but Divine Favour stays close to my house. They said okay, that he was going to call me to meet them in Calabar South. I said no wahala.”

When detectives searched his room, they recovered a sword and pocket axe which the suspect claimed belonged to him. “I have actually denounced my cult activities but why the axe is still with me is because of my vigilante work in the estate,” he said.

His twin brother, Emmanuel alias Mystical, a 2010 Computer Science graduate of CRUTECH, waiting for call-up for the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, this month, denied being a member of the gang. Although he admitted he was initiated into the Black Axe in 2006, he renounced membership of the cult upon graduation “to face and focus on my life.” But detectives recovered a small axe and sword from his room. “I was not an insider of the kidnapping case of my neighbour named Favourite Supermarket and in the process of the kidnapping, I was almost shot dead. After the kidnapping took place I ran to Zone 6 Police Station but didn’t find anyone. Coming back I saw my neighbour who took me to Federal Housing Police Station to make a statement because I saw all what happened through my fence and almost got shot in the process.”

In his confessional statement dated July 14, 2011, Crush unmasked more members of the undergraduate gang. He said he has been a Mechanical Engineering student of CRUTECH since 2005 till date with matriculation number OB/022/MEN. “I know Ididiong, Wills, Chinedu, Dominic, Sprimo, Silvia, Kepy and Mbet (twins). They are all partners in crime of kidnapping. The above named persons were together with me in the kidnapping of Splendour Hotel at Ekonim in 2010, the Customs officer at Etteta Ita Street and Divine Favour’s wife in April 2011. Out of these jobs, my share were as follows: N370,000, N150,000 and N320,000 from the Customs lady, Splendour and Divine Favour’s wife. Behold, the actual money from these jobs were not always disclosed to me. They only gave me what they felt like giving me,” he said.

The 500 level engineering student who hails from Olomu clan in Ugheli South local government area of Delta State, revealed the gang’s intelligence network. “In Splendour Hotel (case) Mbet and Kepy gave us information on the job and Wills, Ididiong, Chinedu and Krobo were involved in kidnapping the manager. Kepy and Mbet gave information for the Customs lady’s job too and the same people mentioned above did the job. In Divine Favour’s case, at first, Nino gave the information before Sprimo, a boy that claimed he worked for him without settling him, gave us the information and me, Ididiong, Wills, Dominic, Silvia and Chinedu did the job.”

Crush, however, absolved Emmanuel of complicity in the gang’s operations. “No, Mystical is not involved in the kidnapping of anybody,” he told detectives. He said the gang used three locally made pistols – two owned by Ididiong while one belonged to Wills.

Police sources told this magazine that Wills, Ididiong, Mbet and Keppy, Dominic and about six other members of the gang were at large. Wills aka Colonel is believed to live in Akoka area of Yaba, Lagos. Mbet reportedly fled to Ghana. From Crush’s call logs, detectives found that he called home before the latter’s arrest. Dominic, a one eyed kingpin, was said to have played a major role in all the cases. He is believed to be hiding in Calabar. He was said to have held down all the victims while in captivity.

On August 29,  Akwaji Ikong Ogbang, director of public prosecution, DPP, Cross River State, dragged Chinedu, Innocent, Krobo and Emmanuel before the State High Court in charge number HC/63C/2011. They were docked on a three-count criminal charge of armed robbery, kidnapping and membership of secret cult.

The first charge states that the quartet and others at large on April 29, 2011, at about 9.45p.m robbed Ifeoma Ugochukwu of 37B, Nkonib Layout, Ikot Ansa, behind INEC office, Calabar, of a Hyundai Sonata car, cash sum of N330,000, clipper and a number of GSM handsets while armed with offensive weapons to wit: guns, contrary to Section 1(2)(a) of the Robbery and Firearms (Special Provision) Act, Cap. R11, Vol.14 Laws of the Federation, 1990. The charge carries death penalty.

Count two said that the men and others at large on the “same date, time and place kidnapped Ifeoma Ugochukwu and one Wisdom Ugochukwu and unlawfully imprisoned them at number 12/15, Usoro Street, Calabar, and prevented them access to their family and also prevented their family discovering the place of their imprisonment.” The offence is contrary to Section 364(2) of the Criminal Code Law Cap. C.16, Vol.3, Laws of Cross River State of Nigeria. It attracts 10 years imprisonment.

Only three persons – Innocent, Krobo and Emmanuel were charged in the third count. They were accused of being members of a secret cult known as Black Axe and thus “made possible the possession of offensive weapons to wit: sword and axe,” contrary to Section 3(1) (2) of the Public Order (Prohibition of Secret Cult and Offensive Weapons) Law, Cap. P21, Vol. 5, Laws of Cross River State of Nigeria 2004.

Also, the police have charged Kosiso Chukwu Nnoli and eight others with stealing assorted wines and spirits worth six million Naira from Favourite Supermarket where he was once manager and passed them to his accomplices. The offence attracts three years imprisonment.

But lawyers in Calabar who spoke to Newswatch were worried that although armed robbery attracts capital punishment, none of those convicted since 1999 has been executed. “This is dampening lawyers’ spirits in Calabar. How do you work tirelessly to get justice for victims only for the convicts to be released a few years later on one flimsy prerogative of mercy by a governor,” a lawyer asked, adding, “when the convicts come out they begin to pose before relations of the victims.” The legal practitioner was worried that  Liyel Imoke, governor of Cross River State, had never commiserated with any of the victims most of whom are investors but non-indigenes of the state. “Some of them like the Ugorjis have relocated while others have teamed up with the police to ensure that the criminals are caught,” he said.

Mid October, men of the Intelligence Bureau of Zone 6 of the Nigeria Police Force, Calabar, arrested three kidnappers who had relocated there from Akwa Ibom either for greener pasture or safety. But they were promptly taken back to Uyo on Monday, October 24, to be arraigned for some kidnap cases. The transfer was done quietly as thousands of artistes had trooped to Calabar for the National Festival of Arts and Culture which held in the town between October 24 and 29.

 Edem Duke, culture and tourism minister, who was in Calabar, for the six-day event refused to speak to Newswatch on the new threat to the nation’s tourism hub. However, Rekpene Bassey, state security adviser, SSA, to Governor Imoke,  said all would be well during the carnival. He said government was working with all the security agencies and formations at all levels to ensure that the state is safe and peaceful and that it was investing massively in intelligence gathering as it helps to get advance information on criminal elements and nip their activities in the bud. “The State Security Council set up a Special Task Force on Kidnapping and we are on the verge of setting up a Quick Intervention Squad as an integral part of the upgraded Emergency Response Centre for quick action on crime incidents,” he said.

Omini Oden, chief press secretary to Imoke, said government would not overlook security challenges to the forthcoming carnival. “This is uppermost in our agenda and we can assure tourists that the state will not experience any untoward development during the 32-day fiesta,” he told Newswatch.

The kidnapping incidents’ picture is also grim in neighbouring Akwa Ibom State. Kidnapping began in early 2008. At that time, relations of victims were asked to pay between N500,000 and two million Naira as ransom. It is now a daily occurrence. Now kidnappers charge between N20 million and N100 million as ransom. Unfortunately, many of those kidnapped never returned alive. Last year, Governor Godswill Akpabio had assured the people that kidnapping was going to stop in the state by December 2010. He said the monster had political undertones and were meant to embarrass his government. Today, there are between seven and 10 reported cases of kidnapping in the state each month. Majority of the cases have not been reported even to the police. The victims and their relations manage the situations quietly.

Last week, however, the kidnappers of Yingi Edunam, a staff of Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly and wife of a former commissioner for education in the state asked for N100 million ransom. She was returning from the market when the kidnappers reportedly blocked her at the gate of their house at Ekit Itam area of Uyo and drove her off in her sports utility van, leaving her young daughter who was with her behind. Edunam, whose husband is known to be a strong supporter of Senator Helen Esuene, was still being held by press time  on November 16.

Last June, a senior manager of a leading state-owned microfinance bank was kidnapped near his home in Uyo and detained for six days, during which period his relations struggled to raise N10 million and gave his abductors. The abductors, who had demanded for N20 million caused the victim to sign an undertaking to pay the remaining N10 million after his release, failing which they would pick him again. The manager sealed that deal two days after his release.

 Even men of God have not been spared the ordeal. Those kidnapped in the state include Ntia Ntia, the young and upcoming senior pastor of Full Life Ministries, Uyo. Ntia was taken after a much publicised visit to his church by Governor Akpabio who announced a donation of N10 million to the Pentecostal church. Ntia’s abductors allegedly tied him to a tree in the bush for days, but released him after his members paid a N10 million ransom.

The wife of Sam Ewang, retired Air Commodore and former military administrator of Rivers and Ogun states, was kidnapped last February, at the peak of political campaigns for the April 2011 elections, making the public to believe that kidnappings, and hers, in particular, were politically motivated. The kidnappers allegedly did not ask for money but insisted that her husband, who was a gubernatorial candidate of the All Nigeria Peoples Party, ANPP, give up his ambition.

About that period, P. Udonwa, a Singapore-based engineer, was shot near his home while returning from a political meeting. He escaped with gunshot wounds while the gunmen abducted his aged mother. They kept the woman for 50 days and killed her after the son failed to show up. Udonwa has since found his way back to Singapore, abandoning his governorship ambition.

The list of those kidnapped includes Edet Akpan, retired army general and former director of National Youth Service Corps. The kidnappers had waited for him inside Qua Iboe Church, Iwok, his village on a Sunday morning. They pounced on him as he mounted the platform to preach, killing three persons in the process. Memfin Ekpo, a medical consultant at University of Uyo Teaching Hospital and husband of Comfort Ekpo, vice chancellor of University of Uyo has also been kidnapped. Ennang, a doctor with the university’s medical centre, was also kidnapped.

On November 3, Solomon Arase, commissioner of police deployed to the state some two months earlier, said his men would put paid to kidnapping in the state. He is making some progress as his men have rescued victims and arrested or killed kidnap suspects in the state. They rescued Andrew Akpan Abasiekong of Itam in Itu local government area said to have been kidnapped at Ukam in Mkpat Enin local government area by a gang of four men and 26-year-old Genevieve Effiom. Security men killed one of the kidnappers who had gone to collect the N500,000 ransom from her relations. On October 26, policemen killed and paraded seven kidnap suspects in Eket. The police had an uphill task controlling thousands of people who thronged the station to take a look at the dead kidnappers.

In Imo State, the people have been living in great fear and anxiety following an unprecedented upsurge in kidnapping. The state that parades itself as Eastern Heartland has literally been reduced to ‘heartland of kidnapping,’ with an average record of 10 cases per week.  No fewer than 200 adults have been abducted this year. Worried by the increase in kidnap cases, the state government recently launched a security initiative tagged: “Operation Rescue Imo.” The government distributed 100 brand new Hilux patrol vehicles and other security gadgets to security operatives and communities. Also, 32 suspected kidnappers were publicly paraded. 

On October 8, Chioma Ogoke, commissioner for Commerce and Industry, was grabbed in broad daylight along the MCC/Uratta Road. Nne Ugorji, a retired medical doctor, was abducted the previous day in Owerri North area of the state. Both of them spent seven days in the kidnappers’ den. Paulinus Chukwu, former member of the House of Representatives, was abducted in Umuagwo, his home town in Ohaji/Egbema local government area of the state.

However, Linus Okere, 77-year-old retired civil servant and a community leader in Ihitte Okwe in Ngor/Okpala local government was lucky. The septuagenarian was kidnapped on October 9, on his way to a church by four armed men. But the youths numbering about 100 gave the kidnappers a fight. They had to abandon their captive as they approached the Sam Mbakwe airport. Jude Agbaso, deputy governor, strongly believes that kidnapping has become a South-East, South-South problem.

There is now a new dimension to kidnapping. A syndicate made up of young girls now lures children with snacks from churches in Owerri. No fewer than 12 children who came with their families or in company of house helps to churches have been kidnapped in the past two months. For instance, on October 23, Tina Enebere, 19, attempted to kidnap Gift Agbasoga aged five years and Emmanuel, her three- year- old brother, at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church, Orsu-Obodo in Oguta local government area of the state. Some commercial motorcyclists, however, foiled the attempt and handed the suspect over to the police.

In Imo, victims cut across gender, social status and position.  Many families had gone through the trauma of being guests of kidnappers. Apart from paying hefty ransom, many of the victims did not live to tell their stories. Celestine Ngobiwu, former member of the Imo State House of Assembly representing Obowu, had a terrible encounter with kidnappers. He was abducted in broad day light in Owerri metropolis at a fast food joint along Uratta road. His orderly’s attempt to protect his boss resulted in his death as the kidnappers shot consistently at him. A lady employee of the fast food joint was also killed by stray bullets. Ngobiwu was held captive for days and released after paying millions of Naira.

Shortly after, Emma Owuamanam, former commissioner for Information, became the next victim. He regained his freedom after paying a princely amount as ransom. Within the same week, the kidnappers took away Pa Nwajiuba, father of Chinedu and Emeka, a professor and lecturer in the Imo State University and former member of the House of Representatives, respectively. The hoodlums also targeted Christopher Chukwu, father of Tony, a business magnate, and abducted him at Mbano. He was held for about a month. Newswatch learnt that his children paid N100 million ransom. Unfortunately, he died a few days after his release from the shock and trauma he went through.

One of the sons of Marcellinus Nlemigbo, former state chairman of PDP, was also abducted. So also was Ngozi, wife of Frank Nneji, chief executive officer of ABC Transport. The mother of Stanford Onyirimba, former majority leader in the Imo House of Assembly, was kept for 40 days. Millions of Naira was paid as ransom. But the woman died three days after she was released.

When the kidnappers stormed the home of Samuel Ohiri, traditiona

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