The Lagos State Police Command has arrested two suspects involved in the kidnap and assassination of a former deputy governor of Anambra State, Dr. Chudi Nwike.
The two suspects, 31-year-old Godspower Ovwigho, and Stanley Efetobor, 29, were paraded on Tuesday at the command headquarters in Ikeja, Lagos.
The late deputy governor was kidnapped on March 19, 2013 while on his way to Abuja and the kidnappers were said to have been paid N5m ransom, but still shot the victim dead along with two others.
Godspower, a leader of the 30-man gang involved in the operation, said his gang had carried out several other operations.
“I used to be an okada rider. I have spent over two years in kidnapping, and this is my third operation. I was paid N25, 000 for my first operation. I advise people not to kidnap again because it is a very bad business.”
Godspower, according to police report, was tracked down and arrested at Ikorodu on April 23, 2014 by the Commander of the Special Anti-robbery Squad, SP. Abba Kyari, while Stanley was arrested the following day.
Our correspondent further gathered that both of them were given away by a member of the gang, Monday Odieto, who was arrested in Benin, Edo State, for kidnapping the wife of a Supreme Court Judge, Justice Rhodes Vivour.
The report further revealed that the gang participated in the rescue of their former gang leader, one Rufus, at Okere Road in Warri, Delta State, in March 2013, where some officers of the Nigeria Prisons Service were killed by the gang.
The suspects said Rufus was the one who killed the former deputy governor and the two men who had brought the ransom.
The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko, said investigation was still ongoing to get other members of the gang.
“We were on the trail of the kidnappers of the wife of the Supreme Court Judge, and because of the sensitivity of the issue, the matter was transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department. The SARS operatives then arrested Godspower who told us that he belonged to a gang that specialised in kidnapping around the South-South.
“The same gang kidnapped former Anambra deputy governor and demanded N30m as ransom. And although they got N5m from the family, they still went ahead to kill the man, and told the wife to use the remaining N25m to bury her husband. We are still continuing with our investigations.”
Godspower told a bewildered crowd that his gang killed the former deputy governor because his wife was heady. “We killed the deputy governor because his wife tried to prove difficult. We demanded N30 million but they gave us only N5 million. After the payment, they promised to give us more but did not. It was Rufus that shot him dead when the wife refused to pay more. Rufus is our leader.
“We held him hostage in a three-bedroom flat in Kokori town, in Delta State. When the negotiators brought the money and Rufus discovered it was N5 million, he drove all of them away. He, thereafter, charged into the bedroom where the deputy governor was and told him that his wife was daring us.
“He called the victim’s wife on the phone and asked why the money was slashed. She told him that was all they were able to gather. Out of anger, he shot the former deputy governor four times and called his wife again on the phone and told her to use the balance to organise his burial.”
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