Abducted Edo lawmaker’s mother escapes kidnappers’ den

The 68-year-old mother of a lawmaker in the Edo State House of Assembly, Abibat Adjoto, who was reportedly abducted by suspected kidnappers, ‎has regained her freedom.

The Edo State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Osifo Abiodun, confirmed this to our correspondent this evening.

‎The woman, whose son, Kabiru Adjoto, represents Akoko Edo II constituency, was said to have been kidnapped on Thursday at her residence within Ikakumo village, in Akoko Edo Local Government Area of the state.

‎She was reportedly abducted along with one of her adopted sons, whose name could not to be verified.

According sources, the suspected kidnappers invaded the village at about 1am on Thursday, shooting sporadically for about two hours, causing the villagers to scamper for safety.

Efforts to reach the three-time lawmaker for comments on Saturday were unsuccessful.

‎But a source close to the family, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, disclosed that the kidnappers forcefully took their victims away, after beating them up.

It was also learnt that the abductors had yet to make any contact with the family of the victims.

‎The source said, “They came to our village and started shooting. They took mama away and one of her sons.”

The police spokesman said Abiba‎t reportedly escaped from the kidnappers den on the same day.

‎Abiodun, who said that she has since been reunited with her family, however, noted that he was aware of the abduction of one of her adopted sons.

“‎It was a failed attempt. The woman escaped from them; they did not succeed. Of course, the police were mobilised. Members of her community were also mobilised and they intervened,”‎ he said.

Abducted Edo lawmaker’s mother escapes kidnappers’ den

Child kidnapper, dressed in woman"s clothes arrested in Benin

Edo State police Command have arrested a middle-aged man who was accused of stealing a baby boy at the Oba market, King square in Benin city.

It was gathered that the man disguised himself like a woman, covering his hair with a wig, pretending to be deaf and dumb

According to an eye witness simply identified as Evelyn, the child thief is suspected to be a ritualist.

Evelyn, who claims to be a neighbour to the mother of the victim at the market, explained that the suspect lured the kid named Godwin, with biscuit when his mother, Mrs. Edith Elawure, who sells second-hand clothes, was busy attending to customers at the market.

The suspect after successfully luring the child, strapped him on his back and had escaped to one of the bus terminals in the area where he was eventually found by a search team of traders.

The angry mob were said to have descended on him and the wig on his head dropped off, exposing his real identity.

Men of the Oba market Central Police Division reportedly rescued the suspect from the angry traders who demanded that he must be punished.

Confirming the arrest and averted kidnap, the state police command spokesman, DSP. Abiodun Osifo said “The suspect has been detained and is already being interrogated.”

Child kidnapper, dressed in woman"s clothes arrested in Benin

Police kill suspected kidnapper, rescue 3 victims

Police in Kogi on Friday shot and killed a suspected kidnapper and rescued three kidnap victims at a border area between Kogi and Edo.

Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase

The Commissioner of police in Kogi, Mr Bansen Gwana, told newsmen in Lokoja that three other members of the four-man kidnap gang escaped with bullet wounds.

Gwana urged orthodox and traditional hospitals in the state to report any patient with bullet wounds to the nearest police station.

He said policemen and local hunters were combing the bush to fish out the fleeing kidnappers who he said were in military camouflage.

Those rescued are Aliyu Akaba Mustapha, Adele Adeyemi and Musa Afegbua.

Mustapha said he was traveling to Ebiya village in Ajaokuta Local Government when his vehicle was flagged down by the suspects at a spot on Adogo-Okene road. Mustapha said the suspects, who were all in military camouflage, stopped 11 other vehicles and started robbing passengers of money, handsets and other valuables one after the other.

According to Mustapha , the suspects later decided to kidnap him and three other persons and have trekked into the bush for about 30 minutes when the kidnappers asked one of them to go back. “The man came back to Adogo and reported the matter at the Divisional Police Headquarters in the town.

“The police immediately responded and followed the same route to locate us at the boundary between Kogi and Edo”, he said.

Mustapha said they had trekked for five hours in the bush when the kidnappers decided to dig ground for water, saying it was in the process that the police team caught up with them.

On his part, Adeyemi said the police and the kidnappers engaged in a gun duel lasting over 45 minutes before they could be rescued. The rescued victims commended the police for their quick response and for rescuing them without sustaining any injury.

Police kill suspected kidnapper, rescue 3 victims

Edo Police confirm death of abducted Ekpoma University Don, arrest five suspects

The Edo State Police Command on Friday said that it had discovered the lifeless body of a lecturer of the Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Professor Paul Erie, who was abducted by kidnappers, three months ago.

It also said that it had arrested five persons, suspected to be members of a criminal gang, one of whom “confessed to the kidnapping and murder” of the lecturer.

Those arrested, according to a statement signed by the Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Stephen Onwochei, and made available to newsmen, include Awulu Samson aka Saseki, Lucky Owuadegbe, Jeremiah Amayo, Chucks Edobor and Stephen Usiagwu.

The late Professor of Agricultural Economics was kidnapped by suspected hoodlums on June 16 at about 7:45pm, along Agbor-Uromi road, by Igbanke village in Orhionmwon Local Government Area of the state, and taken to an unknown destination.

His prolonged absence had sparked protests from the AAU chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities and his family members, who had earlier said that his abductors had demanded huge sums of money, as a ransom to release the victim.

It was learnt from unconfirmed sources that the gang had killed the associate professor, buried his remains in a bush and later collected an undisclosed amount as ransom.

Onwochei explained that late Erie’s corpse was uncovered after one of the suspects led a special intervention team initiated by the Commissioner of Police, Mr. Chris Ezike, to the shallow grave where the remains of the professor were exhumed.

Onwochei said, “He (one of the suspects) volunteered and led police pathologist, forensic experts, detectives, family members and the press to a bush at Igbanke village on October 1, 2015 at about 11pm, where a shallow grave was identified and successful exhumation of the suspected remains of Prof. Paul A. Erie was carried out.

“Items recovered from the grave and scene are consistent and suggestive that the remains are indeed that of Prof. Paul A. Erie as identified by family members.”

While expressing the condolence of the command to the aggrieved family, the police spokesperson, however, noted that that command had begun a manhunt for three other members of the gang who are still at large.

“It is worthy of note that three out of the eight suspected kidnappers are yet to be arrested but the command assures that it will leave no stone unturned until the suspects at large are arrested and brought to book,” he added.

Edo Police confirm death of abducted Ekpoma University Don, arrest five suspects

Notorious kidnapper arrested in Edo State

The Edo State Police Command has arrested a man it described as a notorious kidnapper, Amacauley Ikhuakpogba.

Police Inspector General, Solomon Arase

The suspect was reportedly arrested at Iguobazuwa, headquarters of Ovia Southwest Local Government Area.

He was said to have been arrested during a routine stop-and-search.

Ikhuakpogba is said to have committed several kidnappings and robberies.

He was among 35 suspects the police paraded yesterday in Benin, the state capital.

The suspect told reporters that he carried out two kidnappings and eight robberies.

Ikhuakpogba said he collected N500,000 ransom from one of his victims.

Other suspects were said to have robbed, kidnapped, snatched cars and raped women.

A dropout from the Nigeria Military School, Hope Obasuyi, who had allegedly been posing as a soldier to residents, was also paraded.

The 27-year-old was arrested in Benin after a phone he allegedly stole was taken to a relative of the phone owner for unlocking.

He said he was kicked out of the military school in 1994 because he attended a party against the school’s rules.

The “soldier” said he used the extra military camouflage given to him to sew a uniform and pretended to be a soldier.

Obasuyi said he was a welder, adding that he sometimes used the uniform to get many facilities, especially mobile phones from people.

Items recovered from the suspects included five AK-47 rifles, 25 cut-to-size guns, four double-barrelled guns, four single-barrelled guns, three pump action guns, 52 live cartridges, three cars, one motorcycle and seven assorted mobile phones.

Police Commissioner Adegbuyi Samuel said the 35 suspects were among 117 arrested in July and August.

He said they would soon be charged to court.

Notorious kidnapper arrested in Edo State

Henry Chibueze, a man who killed 7 including girlfriend in one day

By Ifeanyi OKOLIE

On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Henry Chibueze, a notorious kidnapper terrorizing South East and South South parts of the country, stormed the home of his girlfriend, Sandra Ijedinma, at Igando area of Lagos State, with an AK47 assault rifle and opened fire on everyone present in the apartment, killing his girlfriend, her elder sister   Praise Ozor,   and her two children.

Henry Chibueze, A kidnapper and murderer

Not satisfied, Henry proceeded to a nearby street where one of Sandra’s elder sisters resided and killed the woman and three of her children, before fleeing.

His anger was said to have been that Sandra, who was an optician with Madonna University, had called off their relationship, when she learnt that   he was a kidnapper.       Sandra’s twin sister, Katherine who sustained a bullet would during the attack had told vanguard in 2013 that the assailant was   familiar with everyone in their family but nobody knew he was a kidnapper . She explained that her late sister used to visit Henry at his base in Delta State and in one of such visits, some heavily armed men stormed Henry’s apartment, manhandling Sandra in the process.

She added that the armed men reportedly told Sandra that her lover absconded with their share of a ransom paid to them for one of their  kidnapping exploits, threatening to wipe out all his (Henry’s) family members if he did not pay them. Thereafter, Sandra informed her family members in Lagos of what had happened and they rushed to Delta State to bring her to Lagos for proper treatment. But while she was receiving the treatment, she called off the relationship and Henry; feeling betrayed, stormed their Lagos home and killed people while Katherine narrowly escaped death.

The police in Lagos went all out in search of Henry. Vanguard gathered that operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, who were then headed by Sp Abba Kyari, trailed him to Abia, Delta and Rivers State, where they rounded up some of his close friends, relatives and seven members of his gang who were behind the kidnap of a British national, Diction Lee, few minutes after the Briton arrived at the country. They kidnapped him on Airport Road, Ikeja.   At that point, it was established that Henry had escaped from the country and was based in Ivory Coast.

But while the search for him went cold in Lagos, Henry, was said to have regrouped with his gang in Imo State and they coordinated several kidnappings in the South East and South South, where he kidnapped over 200 persons, killing most of his victims, including the wife of a royal father in Imo State and an official of the Imo State Environmental Transformation Commission which yielded him N50m ransom.

However, luck ran out on him, last weekend, when he attempted to kidnap the tribunal Judges, handling Election Petition in Imo State, at their lodge, in Disney Hotels, along Onitsha -Owerri Road. Operatives of the Department of State Security, DSS, acting On a tip-off swooped on him, but he managed to escape with bullet wounds which he had gone to treat in the house of his elder brother’s wife, in Ohafia, Abia State, where men of the secret police eventually apprehended him.

He   was arrested along side an army deserter, Akeem Bello, from Kwara State, who abandoned his duty post at Maiduguiri where he was posted. Fear of the activities of the Boko Haram sect probably informed his action. A native doctor, Dan Elengi, who is said to be the proprietor of a popular hotel at Ohii in Owerri Local Government Area,   of Imo State was also among those nabbed.

The 28-year-old man, who is an indigene of Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State, confessed when he was paraded before the Imo State Governor Rochas Okorocha, that he operated from Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire and he killed his girl friend and members of her family because she stole his N45million, after he had opened a shop for her in Aba.

Meanwhile, relatives of his victims have been thrown into celebration following news of his arrest. They called on the Imo State Government to ensure that Henry who is also known as Vampire is prosecuted judiciously.   Ekene Ozor, the husband of one of   Sandra’s sisters who was killed on the day of the attack wants Henry to pay for his crimes. “That man is evil. He robbed me of my wife and two children and robbed my in-laws of eight members of their family.

But my God told me that he would not escape judgment. I am grateful to God for his arrest and I commend the efforts of the Nigeria police especially, the Special Anti Robbery Squad SARS, Lagos State Police Command, who first handled my case, the DSS operatives for their continued efforts to apprehend this heartless criminal. I wish to commend also the governor of Imo State Rochas Okorocha, for his efforts in the arrest of the deadly gang of killers. Days after the attack on my home were highly traumatic. I had seven corpses to deal with at a time and they were all in the mortuary. I was the only one taking care of my remaining children and

I passionately wish to appeal to governors Rochas Okorocha, Ifeanyi Okowa, Akinwumi Ambode and other governors in the federation and well meaning Nigerians to come to my aid as I feel very concerned about the education of my remaining children and their welfare.

Things have tough for me, my little children.   We are still having the psychological pain of the attack of Henry. We have been haunted by the fear of another attack by the serial killer. There have been fears of going out freely because of the horrifying threats from the serial killer and his cohorts. Consequently, I’m indebted to the tune of N7.2 million excluding properties sold to meet up with bills, drugs, surgery of my wife’s younger sister who survived gun shots.   It is by grace of God that I am still alive because it made me hypertensive since then.”

 

Henry Chibueze, a man who killed 7 including girlfriend in one day

Ekiti: Escapee prisoner, two others arrested for kidnapping

The Police in Ekiti have arrested a 35-year old escapee prisoner, Mr Olusola Adewale and two others in connection with the kidnapping of a 75-year old woman, Mrs Aina Rose.

The two other suspects being detained at the Police headquarters in Ado Ekiti in connection with the crime are Owolabi Ojo, 48 and Adedayo Popoola, 48.

Mrs Aina was kidnapped at Ilogbo Ekiti, Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the State last Tuesday by gunmen at about 9pm.

The Police Commissioner, Mr. Etop James, said the Command’s Anti-Kidnapping Squad secured her release at about 6.30am Tuesday, at Ita Ogbolu town, in Ondo State.

While parading the suspects, the CP said two of the suspects were arrested at Ita Ogbolu, while Adewale, the hostage’s driver was arrested at Ilogbo Ekiti.

James described the suspects as members of the syndicates that had been terrorising and perpetrating high profile kidnapping in Edo, Ondo, Ekiti and Delta States in recent time.

He said Olusola was one of the over 200 inmates that escaped when Ekiti State prison came under a bomb attack on November 30, 2014.

The CP, who was represented by the Police Public Relations Officer, Alberto Adeyemi, said two red Golf cars and dangerous weapons, including cut-to-size pistols, were recovered from the suspects.

He disclosed that no ransom was paid to secure Mrs Aina’s release, saying it was through the concerted efforts of his men, who worked day and night to locate the perpetrators.

He said, “The vehicle seized were those that had been on our radar for long. The two vehicles were used to abduct the Reverend father, Emmanuel Akingbade and many others in recent time.

“We are even very happy that Mrs Rose Aina had been able to recognise one of the suspects as being involved in her kidnap, so we are banking on these two backgrounds to be able to prosecute them.”

The Police Commissioner, however, lamented how Ekiti indigenes had been hiding useful information through which the perpetrators of the nefarious act could be nabbed.

“We are quite sure that the kidnap syndicates are well known to our people. They are part of the society and they live among us. But the most difficult thing has been is that, people are not ready to give useful information.

“Police are no magicians, we only rely on information from the public to perform. We appeal to the people to give information and we assure them that their identities shall be protected,” he added.

Ekiti: Escapee prisoner, two others arrested for kidnapping

Police recover N42m from Niger suspected kidnappers

The Niger State Police Command on Thursday said it had recovered over N42m.2m cash from suspected kidnappers in Kontagora Local Government Area.

It added that the sum represented the ransom collected from families of kidnap victims in neigbouring Kebbi, Sokoto and Zamfara states.

Commissioner of Police in the state, Olusola Amore, made the disclosure while addressing journalists in Minna on the activities of the command from January to June, 2015.

Amore said a comparative analysis of major crime statistics for the first and second quarters of the year, showed that kidnapping increased slightly while other crimes reduced drastically.

The police commissioner said the N42.2m recovered from fleeing kidnappers in Kontagora had been transferred to the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Force Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department, Abuja for discreet investigation.

He noted that within the period under review, 1,091 persons were arrested in 785 cases reported while 666 persons were convicted and 251 persons are awaiting trial.

Amore added that 56 cases were under investigation while property, worth N22.4m were recovered.

The CP explained that the command carried out 456 raids, where 933 persons were arrested while 305 people were screened.

It also said it recovered 399 exhibits; 539 charged to court, out of which 342 persons were convicted, while 181 persons were awaiting trial.

According to him, the command is confronted with inadequate logistics, paucity of funds and insufficient manpower to carry out it responsibilities, urging governments at every level and individuals to come to the aid of Nigerian police for maximum results.

Police recover N42m from Niger suspected kidnappers

We were hired by our victim"s driver - Kidnapper confesses

A suspected member of a kidnap syndicate arrested weekend in Ajah area of Lagos State has confessed that his gang was hired by driver of their victim, one Obinna Akammadu.

Solomon Ugoji

The suspect, identified as Solomon Ugoji, was reportedly rescued from a mob that was about to lynch him, by policemen attached to Area ‘M’ Command, Ajah.

He disclosed that Akammadu, the driver, informed him and his colleagues, now at large, that he was going to pick his boss, owner of Victoria Water Service, from the airport last Saturday.

According to him: “The plan was that we would kidnap the woman on reaching Lekki, take her to a hide out around Ajah/Epe, from where we would call her relatives and demand for ransom.”

He said they had succeeded in kidnapping the woman, but ran into traffic at Ajah. The woman jumped out of the car and raised alarm.

Narrating her ordeal to police, the woman that was almost kidnapped, who does not want her name in print, expressed surprise over what she described as a movie.

She said: “I was shocked when the men opened the door that was supposed to be locked. But for God’s intervention, I do not know what would have happened to me.”

Confirming the incident, Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, Kenneth Nwosu, said policemen on patrol noticed the struggle in the vehicle and intervened, adding that policemen were on the trail of the driver and two others.

He disclosed that the suspect would be transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, for further investigation.

 

We were hired by our victim"s driver - Kidnapper confesses

Rescue of abducted children: The intrigues, rigmarole & frustrations behind Kidnapper nanny

The joy of the couple whose three children were abducted by a maid in Lagos knew no bounds, Wednesday, after they found their children, hale and hearty, dumped in a building at Shasha, a suburb of the city.

Before their eventual discovery, the couple had reportedly traversed round Lagos and other adjourning areas in company of operatives from the Special Investigations Bureau, SIB, attached to Lagos State Police command headquarters in Ikeja.

EARLY WARNING

Incidentally, few weeks before this abduction took place, the State Police Command had issued a release advising residents to always investigate properly and document the background of people they want to engage as house helps. They further advised that police should be fully involved during the process of engagement so that they would be able to document the identities of such people in order to avoid ugly incidents like this.

FAMILY RAISE ALARM

The missing Children

Police sources said immediately the distraught couple, Mr. and Mrs. Orekoya, raised alarm after discovering that a house help, Mary Akinloye abducted their children just 24 hours after she was employed by the family via OLX, an online sales portal, the State Police boss, Kayode Aderanti directed his men at Surulere to swing into action and carry out preliminary investigations.

Tension heightened the following day when instead of the maid showing up with the children, she spoke with the family on phone and handed over to an accomplice who gave them a two-day ultimatum to produce N15 million ransom with threats that they would lose the children if they failed to make the money available. In fact, it was gathered that the kidnappers used the word ‘delete ‘ to describe the extent they were ready to go if the family failed to comply with their demand. The traumatized mother of the children did not hesitate when she promised to PAY N10 million.

POLICE SWINGS INTO ACTION

Piqued by the development, the visibly worried Police boss then directed that the case be transferred to the Special Investigations Bureau, SIB, at the headquarters where the Superintendent of Police in-charge, Veronica Ameh-Akpa, a tested and highly intelligent officer, was detailed to set up a crack team with stern instructions to rescue the missing children and round up the kidnappers within 48 hours. That was how the stage was set for the melodrama, intrigues, frustrations and eventual rescue of the missing children.

Police sources intimated Crime Guard that the team led by one Supol Bright swung into action by constantly keeping discreet tab on the kidnappers who were busy issuing threats upon threats to the family. While negotiations were going on, operatives of the SIB were busy counselling the family, collecting data and at the same time, combing all nooks and crannies of the city of excellence in search of clues. Their efforts were also complemented by those of operatives from the dreaded Special anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, who swooped on all known criminal hide outs and black spots in search of the kidnappers.

APPREHENSION SETS IN

It was gathered that the hoodlums were very apprehensive and were expecting their ransom after they read that family members of the kidnapped children were publicly making frantic appeals to good spirited individuals, churches and cooperate bodies to help them raise the ransom in order to save their children.

They, therefore, increased their calls and demand for ransom with threats to ‘terminate lives of the children if the family should play pranks.’ They later reduced the ransom from N13 million to N8 million and then eventually to N2.5 million. A representative of the family was detailed to PAY it into the designated bank of their choice.

PAYMENT OF RANSOM AND CONNIVANCE WITH BANK OFFICIAL

That done, SIB agents were detailed to keep vigil permanently over the account with bank officials. The game plan was to allow the kidnapped have access to the ransom without hindrance. This was to re-assure them that it was paid and to safeguard the children. While the security agents were dutiful watching over the account, the clever criminals went and withdrew some money from two different ATM points at Mushin.

The dare-devils who are suspected to be conniving with a bank official were able to withdraw money from one of the points where their CCTV was faulty. Detectives strongly suspect that they may have succeeded in carrying out the smart manoeuvre with the aid of an insider in the bank. Police authorities immediately blocked the account in other to make it impossible for them to carry out further withdrawals.

THE RIGMAROLE AND MANOUVER

Assured now that their ransom was intact, they called the father of the children to go to a point at Ikorodu and carry his children. The elated man sped off with all the energy he could muster, closely followed by agents of SIB but ended up not seeing his children. As the crestfallen man was bemoaning his fate, the abductors called again and directed him to go to Shagamu.

When he got to Shagamu, they called again and directed him back to Ikorodu. At this stage, according to police sources, they suspected that the criminals were merely playing games. More over, the police team keeping tab on them were able to decipher that the caller was still operating from somewhere around Oshodi inside Lagos. They beat a fast retreat and started combing black spots inside Lagos. This singular decision by the team leader paid off but unfortunately, it failed to lead to the arrest of the suspects who ended up dumping the innocent and hapless children naked inside a bag in an uncompleted building around Shasha area of Egbeda, Lagos.

SUCCOR AT LAST

The children were found with their skin ravaged by mosquitoes by a man who over heard their strident cries from the building. The good Samaritan immediately alerted the Police at Shasha who raced to the scene and rescued the children. They were immediately rushed to the Police hospital, Ikeja where they were treated and later released to their joyous parents.

Meanwhile, Crime Guard learnt that operatives at the SIB and SARS renewed their resolve to crack the case and intensified efforts. It eventually paid off as they were able to corner the fleeing house help inside a dilapidated building at the same Shasha. As at the time of writing this report, serious efforts are in top gear to round up her accomplices. Detectives are said to be working round the clock in that regard.

 

Rescue of abducted children: The intrigues, rigmarole & frustrations behind Kidnapper nanny

Kidnapper, ritualist arrested with human skull

 •‘I belong to Dey-Well cult, skull is that of Victoria’

A 41-year-old suspected cultist, kidnapper and ritualist, Onwuzuruike Nwakaogwu, has confessed to his involvement in a cult group popularly called Dey-Well at Igwuruta village, Ikwerre Local Government area of Rivers State, just as he revealed the identity of the deceased whose skull was found with him as Victoria.

The suspect claimed his efforts at getting money from the skull yielded fruit before his arrest as he said that it used to spew out N10, N20, N50 notes whenever he poured ‘kain kain’ (alcoholic drink) on the skull before reciting incantations.

But his efforts at repeating the same act in the presence of Sunday Tribune after alcoholic drink was given him yielded no result as the skull remained as it was without bringing out money.

Speaking with Sunday Tribune on the arrest of the suspect, the Commissioner of Police in State, Mr Tunde Ogunsakin, said that SARS operatives, headed by Tunji Disu, a Chief Superintendent of Police, received an intelligence report on the activities of some ritualists at Igwuruta vilage in April, 2014. He disclosed that the Officer-in- Charge raised a team, led by Inspector David Ameh, and assigned it the duty of gathering more information on the activities of the suspected ritualists.

The commissioner said the operatives were able to get information about the leader of the suspected group in the person of Nwakaogwu in May but efforts to arrest him proved abortive as he was always on the run.

However, the security agents’ moves yielded fruit on Monday, June 23 when a combined team of Metro Intelligence, Metro Storm and Bomb Squad of C4One section went to the suspect’s hideout at Omuwenyi in Igwuruta village and arrested him, Ogunsakin added.

He said that items recovered from Nwakaogwu included a local pump action gun, four live cartridges and human skull surrounded by bitter kola and neatly kept in a corner of his one-room apartment.

“Upon investigation, it was discovered that the skull was that of a lady who was murdered by the suspect and his gang. The suspect also admitted to using the skull as a medium to get rich, claiming that the skull talked whenever he performed libation on it, and would give him naira notes in N10, N20 and N50 denomination. The suspect also confessed his membership of a brutal cult group ‘Dey-Well’, the police commissioner stated further, saying that investigations were still ongoing.

Speaking with Crime Reports at the premises of Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS) unit in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, Nwakaogwu said he went for the head two years after Victoria was killed so that it could yield him money.  The commercial bus driver told Crime Reports: “It is true the police found the human skull in my room. I was the one who kept it there. The gun and live cartridges that they also found in my room belong to me. I am a hunter so I use them for hunting.”

On how he came about the skull, Nwakaogwu said: “I saw it in the bush about two weeks before my arrest. I was in the bush on ‘patrol’ when I came across the skull by luck. I know the lady to whom the skull belonged. Her name was Victoria and she was a tenant in our village. She was from Imo State. I learnt she went to steal cassava in the farm and she was beaten to death, after which she was roasted. The incident occurred over two years ago.

“I was not around on that day but learnt about it when I returned to the village. When I stumbled on the skull two weeks ago, I decided to pick since nobody was in need of it. I took it to my room and kept it there. Anytime I had alcoholic drink, I poured it on the skull, waiting for it to bring money that I could use.

“Since I got the skull, I had been able to get N4,000, but not at once. It used to be in N10, N20, N50 notes. I did not know how and from where the money used to come because I would have locked my door. I usually met the money on the floor in the corner of my room where I kept the skull. I surrounded it with bitter kola so as to prevent ants from destroying it.”

The suspect also confessed further: “I belong to Dey-Well cult group which I joined in 1995. I am an ordinary member. I joined the cult group so that I could get help from other members anytime I had problem. We help one another during ceremonies like burial. That doesn’t stop me from going to church as a Christian.

“I started smoking marijuana since five years ago but I am not a kidnapper as is being said. I was once arrested by Elembu Division over a goat stolen by my friend. I had no hand in the stealing.”

Saying that modern day security was his command’s benchmark, Mr Ogunsakin reiterated his determination to secure the lives and property of law-abiding citizens of Rivers State, warning that his administration would not condone any shoddy dealings in the interest of a few.

 

Copyright – Nigerian Tribune

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Kidnapper, ritualist arrested with human skull