The Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of G. U. O. Motors
Limited, Chief Godwin Ubaka Okeke, revealed how his kidnappers were
arrested after they received 30 million Naira for his freedom in Onitsha
High Court, Anambra.
He
said he was kidnapped on August 23, 2009 by 16 men, 12 of these men
have been arrested by the Special Anti Robbery Squad, SARS, with the
assistance of the local vigilante operatives while nine were charged to
court after thorough investigations and screening by the police.
Okeke
who stated this at the conclusion of his evidence-in-chief, yesterday,
said of the nine charged, six were granted bail while awaiting trial in
prison custody because, according to the court, their trial was unduly
delayed by the government lawyers, but they jumped bail and refused to
appear in court till date, even after the incumbent trial judge had
issued a bench warrant for their re-arrest.
Okeke told the court
that Emeka Eze, the first defendant on the original list and one of the
gang leaders who was among those that jumped bail, was first to be
arrested and brought to Central Police Station, Onitsha.
After he
was granted bail, he went to their base in Asaba, DeltaState to
celebrate his freedom with a lavish merry making, before he finally
disappeared to an unknown place till date, even as the bench warrant is
still hanging on his neck.
Weapons found buried inside bush According to Okeke, “after his arrest, the police invited me to come and identify him.
When
Emeka Eze saw me at the station, he knelt down and asked me for
forgiveness, which I promised him on condition that he would assist the
police with necessary information that could lead to the arrest of
others.
“Emeka Eze later took the police to Nando community in
Anambra East Local Government Area of the state where their operational
weapons, including the rocket launchers, general purpose machine guns,
GPMGs, AK-47 riffles and other sophisticated weapons were found buried
inside the bush and covered with plastic containers.
The arms were
recovered and taken to the state SARS Headquarters at Awkuzu. Some
suspects nabbed in Nsugbe “Because of my promise to Emeka Eze that he
would regain his freedom if he offered assistance for the arrest of
others, he now took the police to Nsugbe where some of the suspected
gang members were arrested and taken to SARS at Awkuzu, adding that some
of them were arrested in Awka and Asaba, their operational base.
“The
third defendant, Alexander Onyinanya, was arrested two years after the
kidnap saga because he had been on the run, adding that it was through
the assistance of Chinenye Ihenko (a.k.a. Okpompi) the vigilante leader
in-charge of Onitsha North, Onitsha South and some other local
government areas that Onyinanya was eventually tracked down.
Relationship
between me and Onyinanya “On the relationship between me and Onyinanya,
he was a vigilante operative attached to my personal residence in my
country home, Adazi-Ani. While Onyinanya was at Adazi-Ani, he was not
always at his duty post and besides, he lived a flamboyant lifestyle
that was beyond his income.
“I suspected that Onyinanya could have
a direct relationship with the gang of criminals who were perpetrating
incessant kidnappings and robberies that took place between 2008 and
early part of 2009, which were more pronounced at Adazi-Enu, Adazi-Ani,
Adazi-Nnukwu, Obeledu and other neighbouring communities.
I
requested Okpompi, the vigilante leader to redeploy him and he was
replaced with another operative with immediate effect. How I identified
Onyinanya “The motorcycle accident Onyinanya had in 2008 while serving
in my home at Adazi-Ani, for which I paid his hospital bill, made him to
limp, which was why I was able to identify him as the tall member of
the gang who was wearing a mask during and after my abduction.
“After
their arrest between October and November, 2009, crime rate in the
state dropped by 80 per cent till the end of 2010, since they were the
main gang of robbers and kidnappers that terrorized the state then.
“They kept calling me on phone, telling me that I was the only victim
fighting them, unlike other victims who usually told them about others
to kidnap and get handsome ransom.
They even made attempts on my
life on three occasions which failed. This prompted me to apply to the
police authorities for an escort which was approved by the
Inspector-General of Police (IGP). My younger brother’s kidnap “In
January 2013, some of the fleeing gang members regrouped and kidnapped
my younger brother, and in mid October 2013, the same gangsters attacked
one of my private Toyota SUV and riddled it with bullets, thinking I
was inside the vehicle.
“More arrests have been made in respect of
the kidnap of my younger brother and attack on my vehicle and very
soon, the arrested suspects will be brought to the court.”
Cross-examination
At this stage, the prosecution counsel, Chris Ajugwe, who was leading
Okeke in his evidence-in-chief, rested his case and Oliver Oduma,
counsel to the first accused, Kelechi Okafor, cross-examined Okeke
briefly on the level of Okafor’s involvement in his kidnap, to which
Okeke replied: “Okafor himself told me that it was the gangsters that
gave him my vehicle to sell and return the proceeds to them but when he
wanted to sell the vehicle and the buyers discovered that it was GUO’s
vehicle, they refused to buy and even advised him (Okafor) to abandon
the vehicle before he would be arrested, and he abandoned the vehicle in
Badagry, Lagos State and fled.
“It was when Okafor went back to
Asaba, their operational base, to narrate the development to the gang
members that they arrested and handed him over to the police on framed
up charges.
They suspected that Okafor might have sold the
vehicle, pocketed the proceeds and came to tell them lies. “I could not
identify Okafor throughout my kidnap saga until on information, I met
him in police station and he personally narrated to me how they gave him
the stolen vehicle to sell.”
Justice Nwankwo adjourned further
hearing till December 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9 when the matter is expected to
have been concluded, starting from the cross-examinations of Okeke, by
both counsel to Ifeanyi Okafor, the second accused, D. U. Nwafor and
counsel to Onyinanya, the third accused, Mrs. J. N. Okongwu
READ MORE: http://news.naij.com/52919.html
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