By Oghenekevwe Laba
Officers of the Lagos State Police Command has arrested a former palace boy and seven other suspects in connection with the abduction of Minister of Finance, Dr Okonjo-Iweala’s mother, Professor Okonjo.
The arrested suspected kidnappers are Jideofor Ogbue alias: Marvelous, Micheal Ojeabu, Endurance Oke, Ibrahim Abubakar, Buhari Hamadora, Hassan Oseni, Chiejine Onochie and Chukwumah Okoh.
Addressing newsmen on Monday, while parading the suspects at the Lagos State Police Command Headquarters, Ikeja, Lagos, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko said sequel to the arrest of two members the gang Chiejine Onochie who was a Palace Boy and Chukwumah Okoh on March 27th, 2013, by men of the SIB Lagos State Police Command, disclosing that subsequent confession revealed information on the kidnapped of the mother of the present Minister of Finance Dr Okonjo Iweala of Delta State and other kidnapping activities.
As a result of the information, Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr Umar Manko was reported to have sent three SARS decoy team to go after the kidnappers in Delta State, Edo State and Rivers State, adding that the gang leader a.k.a Marvellous should be track down and arrested.
According to the Commissioner of Police, this attempt finally paid off with the arrest of the gang leader Jideofor Ogbue alias Marvelous at his hideout in Port Harcourt, Rivers State on April 2nd, 2013, stating that subsequent investigation led to the arrest of other five members of the gang in Enugu, Edo, Anambra and Delta State.
Speaking to Urhobotoday, former Palace Boy Chiejine Onoche, 32 years, said it was his friend Chukwuma Okoh, 31 years, who brought the idea of the abduction of the Queen mother to him.
According to Onochie who said he was giving anything out of the N12m, “Chukwuma Okoh came to me to inquire on how to kidnap Mama. Because I know about the operation of the palace as a former palace boy, I told them the necessary steps to take on how to enter the palace. The first day they came, they could not execute the operation because the palace was under renovation. Besides, there was argument among them on who will collect the money.
“After two weeks they came back. Before then, they called me on telephone and I met them at Asaba road. After discussion on how to execute the operation we left. Thus, when they arrived at the compound, they met her at the gate where she was providing drinks for the workers renovating the palace. It was there they took her away.”
Onochie who is an indigene of Ugwachukwu, Delta State, said he worked in the palace betwenn 2007 to 2012, adding he left the palace because he was not being paid salary and had got another work.
He said he was not given anything after the operation, just as he pointed out that he knew how much they collected as ransom in the police station.
The gang leader, Jideofor Ogbue alias Marvelous told Urhobotoday that Chukwuma Okoh told him about the operation and he invited others because they were afraid she could have security.
“Chukwuma came to inform us that he has good job for us. He said the person is Professor Okonjo Iweala’s mother. We got there on surveillance and saw everything. It was easy for us to view the place because the person that brought the job to us is from there. After the visit we invited some other hands because we thought she might have security. We went there and abducted her. We collected N13m before releasing her. My share was N2m,” Ogbue confessed.