I Feed her with groundnut, bread, water, Says Suspected Kidnapper of Okojo Iweala’s Mother
Minister of Finance, Okonjo-iweala with her mother
A member of the 10-man kidnap gang who earlier this month abducted the 82-year-old Prof, Kamene Okonjo, mother of the Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, yesterday, confessed his involvement in the abduction and narrated how he fed the retired professor of sociology with groundnut, water and bread in the kidnappers’ den.
The suspected kidnapper, Andrew Dime, aka Olokpa, 32, who hails from Enikorogha in Edo State, however, told Vanguard that he was only hired by the second-in-command of the gang to supply food to Prof. Okonjo on two occasions at a fee of N100,000.
Delta State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, on the other hand, told Vanguard that Prof. Okonjo was kept in the custody of the suspect, who was in-charge of her feeding.
The second-in-command of the gang allegedly swindled him when he bolted with his N1 million share of the ransom collected for the release of Prof. Okonjo.
Apparently, to settle scores, the police said the suspect formed a new kidnap gang, which abducted an octogenarian at Aboh in Ndokwa area of the state. But having obtained a database on the group after its leader, Nwaeze Nwosa, aka Bolaji was shot dead in Asaba, the police were able to track down the suspect.
Aduba told Vanguard that the police set a trap for him when it got information that he was in dire need of money for the yuletide by convincing him to sell one of the guns used for the abduction of Prof. Okonjo, which was in his custody. He fell for the trap and negotiated a price of N300,000 for a pump-action gun with a police officer, who posed as a buyer. He was, thereafter, arrested at Koka junction, Asaba, when he came to collect the cash.
Dark-complexioned Andrew, who spoke to Vanguard in an interview, debunked the claim that he formed a new kidnap gang and that he was the one that negotiated the sale of pump-action gun, which was used to ensnare him.
A police source said he was being economical with the truth, adding: “Most of these people (referring to criminals) will never tell you the truth when you arrest them until you get other members of the gang to confront them.”
