3 Brothers In Police Net For Kidnapping, Killing Mother Of 5 In Abuja

• Police exhume body for forensic inquest

BY EDMOND ODOK, ABUJA – For allegedly kidnapping and gruesomely murdering one Mrs Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya on May 14, 2020, Police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Unit (IRU) of the Nigeria Police Force have arrested three (3) suspects in relations to the dastardly act.

The trio are; Johnson Emmanuel – 38 years; Gideon Emmanuel – 31 years; and Success Emmanuel – 27 years

Born by same parents, the suspects, 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 to evade police arrest after committing the crime in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

A statement by the Force Public Relations Officer, DCP Frank Mba said investigations leading to their arrest followed complaints received from one Chinedu Ogbonnaya who alleged that his mother, Mrs Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya, 55 years, native of Ozuitem in Bende Local Government Area of Abia State had been kidnapped and a five million naira ransom demanded before she could be released.

DCP Mba stated that; “A comprehensive and painstaking investigation by the police operatives resulted in the arrest of the three (3) suspects, whom, in the course of interrogation, revealed that the victim had long been murdered and buried.”

He said 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.”

According to the Police image maker; “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 5-million Naira ransom as pre-condition for her release.”

The Police spokesman also disclosed that on Thursday, June 4, 2020, “the suspects led a team of investigators, alongside pathologists, to a residence at Wumba District, Lokogoma, Abuja where the victim’s decomposing body was exhumed from a septic tank.”

DCP Mba explained that the exhumed body has been taken to the University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada for “forensic examination.

“A Toyota Highlander Jeep, belonging to the deceased, has also been recovered by Police operatives at a mechanic workshop in Apo where it had been repainted into a different colour, vehicle documents fraudulently changed and ownership of the stolen vehicle criminally transferred to one of the masterminds of the crime, Johnson Emmanuel.”

The statement by DCP Frank Mba said; “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.”

Mba stated that the Inspector General of Police (IGP), Mohammed A Adamu, in commending the operatives for a job well done, promised that perpetrators of any form of crime and criminality in the country will not go undetected and unpunished.

The IGP however urged all citizens to be more security conscious and report any suspicious activities within their neighbourhood to the nearest police station for necessary action.