Enugu police nab gang leader, kidnappers of Okonjo-Iweala’s mother

The police in Enugu have nabbed three of the suspected kidnap kingpins that abducted Mrs Okonjo-Iweala, mother of the former Minister of Finance, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, in 2013.
The Enugu State Police Command, which disclosed this through its Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), in Enugu, Mr Ebere Amaraizu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP), said the operatives of the Anti-kidnap unit of the command arrested the gang leader, Peter Nweke from Umumba Ndiagu Ndiuno in Ezeagu Local Government Area of the State, who lives at Bucknor Street, Mushin, Lagos with his wife as he was involved in another kidnap operation.
According to Amaraizu, after Peter was allegedly involved in the kidnap of Mrs Okonjo-Iweala in 2013, he escaped to Cotonou in Benin Republic and later returned this year to join another gang that has Ifeanyi Chukwuemeka from Iselle Uku, Delta State, who resides in Asaba and Ali Salli from Adamawa State, a scrap parts and cigarette seller, at Sabon Kashua, Asaba, Delta State.
According to the PPRO, Peter allegedly agreed he had been in the kidnap business for four years before traveling to Cotonou after the kidnap of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala from which he got the sum of N1 million share from the ransom paid by the victim’s family.
He said Peter returned to Nigeria in 2015 when he became broke and was having press¬ing financial needs to resolve in his family.
The financial needs, he said, pushed him into embarking on another kidnap business in order to raise money as he allegedly acquired an AK 47 and pump action gun from one Musa from Adamawa at Sabon Kashua, Asaba through one of his cohorts, Ali Sali.
“He further revealed how he and his gang abducted a pastor’s wife, a woman and their driver in Ugwuoba along Oji River, in October and one other kidnapping operation in November, 2015 where they demanded for N4 million ran¬som but later got N1,120,000.
“In the case of Mrs. Okon¬jo-Iweala, according to him, they got N12 million but he disclosed that they were about nine in number. He also re¬vealed how he was given the information by Ifeanyi Chuk¬wuemeka, their cohort who he said linked him to one of the Okonjo-Iweala’s family mem¬bers that helped them to per¬fect the kidnap of their mother.
“In that operation, according to him, Ifeanyi disguised as a corps member, seeking for as¬sistance and in that way, they were able to gain access into the compound and abducted the woman. Peter further dis¬closed that, one Idris Jauro from Adamawa State and Ejike Chibuko from Umum¬ba, Ndiagu, Ezeagu, Enugu State were already nabbed by the Anti-kidnap unit, together with their Enugu-based gang members at Oji River, he said. He however, noted that Peter has pleaded for forgiveness while advising youths to shun crime and criminality as it is an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.
Amaraizu also said that If¬eanyi Chukwuemeka who re¬sides at Sabon Kashua, Asaba, allegedly revealed that he was the one that gave the informa¬tion about Madam Okonjo-Iweala to Peter and had worn a uniform which made him to look like a corps member to perfect their evil agenda of kidnapping on that day.
According to the PPRO, Chukwuemeka claimed to have known Peter who he al¬leged comes to buy Indian hemp and other drugs from him from where he introduced him into kidnapping.