The kidnappers of Prof. Kanene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, have revealed that they used the name of President Goodluck Jonathan to lure their victim.
The leader of the group, Jideofor Ogbue, better known as Marvellous, 22, said that they had to drop President Jonathan’s name to lure Okonjo out of the palace.
They used a palace messenger, Victor Chiejine Onochie, identified as a member of the gang, to infiltrate the palace.
Ogbue said: “We were able to enter the palace with the help of Victor.
“Victor works in the palace.
“When we saw the woman, we told her that her daughter, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, had been arrested for embezzlement, that President Goodluck Jonathan wanted to see her immediately to ask her some questions about all she knew about her daughter’s crime.
“She followed us immediately.”
The kidnappers collected N13 million before they let go of Okonjo.
Other members of the gang already in police custody are Michael Ojeabulu, 23; Endurance Oke, 22; Ibrahim Abubakar, 28; Buhari Hamadora, 27; Hassan Oseni, 29; Chiejine Onochie Victor 32; and Chukwuma Okoh, 31.
The Commissioner, Lagos State Police Command, Prince Umar Manko, said: “Sequel to the arrest of Chiejine Onochie and Okoh on March 27, 2013, by men of the Special Intelligence Bureau, Lagos State Police Command, and their subsequent confessions that they gave the information in December 2012, which led to the kidnap of the mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in Delta State, among many other kidnappings, I directed the Officer-in-Charge of the Special Anti-robbery Squad, Ikeja, Superintendent of Police, Abba Kyari, to go after the kidnappers, especially Marvellous, who is the gang leader.
“Kyari expanded his tracking network and deployed three SARS decoy teams to Delta, Edo and Rivers States, which eventually led to the arrest Marvellous.
“He was arrested in his hideout in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on April, 2, 2013.
“Also, five more members of the gang were arrested at different locations in Edo, Enugu, Delta and Anambra States.
“They confessed to the kidnappings, including the most recent one, where the victim, an elderly woman, one Mrs. Regina Obi Dainty, was killed by the kidnappers after collecting N2 million ransom.”
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