Kingsley Nwezeh in Abuja
Operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force yesterday arrested three suspects over the kidnap and murder of a mother of five, Mrs. Janet Nnenna Ogbonna.
A Force headquarters’ statement said the decomposing body of the deceased was exhumed from a septic tank where it was buried.
The suspects are Johnson Emmanuel, 38; Gideon Emmanuel, 31, and Success Emmanuel, 27.
The kidnap and gruesome murder of late Mrs. Ogbonnaya occurred on May 14, 2020.
The suspects, born by same parents, all male and native of Isiekenesi, Ideato Local Government Area of Imo State were arrested by the police in their home town where they had taken refuge after committing the crime in Abuja, in order to evade police arrest.
Investigations that led to the arrest of the suspects is sequel to complaints received from one Chinedu Ogbonnaya, who alleged that his mother, Mrs. Ogbonnaya, 55, native of Ozuitem in Bender LGA of Abia State, had been kidnapped and a N5 million ransom was demanded before she could be released.
A comprehensive and painstaking investigation by the police operatives resulted in the arrest of the three suspects, whom, in the course of interrogation, revealed that the victim had long been murdered and buried.
Further findings revealed that the victim, a widow, who had been a Facebook friend of the principal suspect, Johnson Emmanuel, was lured from her home in Gwagwalada to visit the suspect.
The suspect thereafter took advantage of the visit, served her yoghurt laced with drugs and subsequently had her murdered.
The suspect, having killed the victim and buried her remains in a septic tank, went ahead to reach out to the family of the victim using her phone and demanded a N5 million ransom as pre-condition for her release.
Meanwhile, the suspects led a team of investigators alongside pathologists to a residence at Wumba District, Lokogoma area of Abuja where the victim’s decomposing body was exhumed from a septic tank.
The statement signed by Force PRO, and Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Frank Mba, said the exhumed body was conveyed to the University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja for forensic examination.
A Toyota Highlander SUV belonging to the deceased was recovered by the police operatives at a mechanic workshop in Apo, Abuja, which had been repainted, while the vehicle documents fraudulently changed and ownership of the stolen vehicle criminally transferred to one of the masterminds of the crime, Johnson Emmanuel.
Investigations also revealed that the house where the deceased was killed and buried originally belonged to one of the suspects but was hurriedly sold-off to a third party apparently to obliterate evidence.
“The Inspector-General of Police (IG), Mohammed Adamu, while commending the operatives for a job well done, reassures Nigerians that perpetrators of any form of crimes in the country will not go undetected and unpunished.
“He, however, enjoins citizens to be more security conscious and report any suspicious activities within their neighbourhood to the nearest police station,” he said.
