EXCLUSIVE: Palace Hand Reveals How OKonjo-Iweala's Mum was Kidnapped

Pix caption: Ngozi OKonjo-Iweala and the mum who was kidnapped

By Chiemelie Ezeobi

Four months after Professor Kamene Okonjo, the mother of the Coordinating Minister of Finance and Economy, Ngozi OKonjo-Iweala, was kidnapped in Ogwashi-Uku, Delta State, the palace hand; Chiejine Onochie, yesterday regaled journalists how they hatched the plot.

Although he claimed he was not involved in the crime, he said he only gave the kidnappers the necessary information needed for the kidnap, adding that although the kidnappers collected N13million as ransom, he was not given any.

His disclosure negates previous claims by the Delta State Government and the state police that the octogenarian was released without ransom. The suspects maintained that they only released the victim when the N13million ransom was paid.



Other suspects who were arrested after a massive manhunt that spanned Delta, Edo and Rivers States were; Michael Ojeabulu,  Endurance Oke,  Ibrahim Abubakar, Buhari Hamadora, Jideofor Ogbue, Chukwuma Okoh, and Hassan Oseni. Also the police recovered five AK 47 rifles, 31 rounds of live ammunition and one Honda Civic coupe with registration number FST 502 BC.

They further disclosed that they shared the loot among themselves according to the degree of individual involvement in the kidnap saga.

The octogenarian was kidnapped from the palace of the traditional ruler of Ogwashi-uku, Delta State, in December.

Onochie who said blamed hunger for his foray into the deal said,  "I grew up inside the palace since when I was 5 years old. All through my stay I was never paid a dime. It is hunger that led me to organise the kidnapping of the queen.

"Having thought of how best to make money, I realised that I can organise the kidnapping of the queen and one of the things I discovered while I was in the palace was the lack of security presence at the palace. This was at the peak of kidnapping in Delta State.

"As back up, I invited one of my friends; Chukwuma Okoh to discuss my plans and he sourced and invited other members of the gang. Three days later, I met with his deputy, Jideofor Ogbue alias Marvellous.

"Prior to the kidnapping, the 12-man gang stayed in the village without anybody suspecting any thing but it was only five members of the gang that went inside the palace. 

"Marvellous who was armed approached the victim, claiming to be from the Presidency. He claimed they were ordered to arrest and bring the the finance Minster to Abuja, having been implicated in a fraud case.

He added, "She refused to follow us but we bundled her into the back of one of the vehicles that was waiting outside. With her eyes blind folded, we drove off firing sporadic shots into the air to scare away anybody.

"She was taken to Kwale, Delta State, and we fed her with bread and at times rice. We started giving her rice when we became sure that they were going to pay the ransom demanded."

Though, the palace hand claimed he did not benefit from the money collected, but Marvellous alleged that he got N700, 000 while Okoh got N500,000.

On their modus operandi, Marvelous said, “It was my friend, Ifeanyi that informed me about the operation. On the day of the kidnap, we had no difficulty because Onochie had told us that the security around the palace was lax. Although 12 of us were involved in the operation, only eight actually went to the palace.

“We went with three AK47 rifles and a pump action rifle. We took her to Kwale and her family paid us N13m as ransom. They packaged the money in nylon bags and dropped it around an expressway in Benin. My share was only N2m.”

"On the day the money was paid, three of us waited at the Benin bypass having been in close contact with the family members. The money was in N1000 and N500 denomination and was carefully concealed in a black polythene bag.

Confirming the arrests, the state Commissioner of Police, Umar Manko said the confessional statement of Onochie and Okoh in March by men of the State Investigation Bureau (SIB) led to the arrest of other gang members.

Based on the information at their disposal, he said he directed the Officer-in-Charge of the state Anti Robbery Squad (SAR), SP Abba Kyari to go after the gang and they extended their drag net to Delta, Edo and River States respectively. 

He said they eventually arrested Marvellous at his hideout in Port Harcourt, Rivers State and his arrest led to the rounding up of five others.

Manko said kidnapping was not on the rise in Lagos contrary to reports, noting that the suspects were arrested in Port Harcourt after he had perfected plans to kidnap the Commissioner of Commerce in Anambra State.