The surviving victim kidnapped alongside the Ubulu-Uku monarch, who is a pastor in a local church in Delta State, Mr. Charles Afamefuna, also narrated his experience in the hands of the kidnappers with the late Obi Ofulue III until he escaped from their captors.
Edward Akaeze Ofulue III, the Obi of Ubuluku-Uku Kingdom in Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta State was abducted by a gang of kidnappers on the Obior-Igbodo Road in the state on January 5, 2016 but his decomposing corpse was later found in the bush many kilometers away on January 21, 2016.
Alkali, who noted that all the six suspects so far apprehended by the police were of the Hausa-Fulani stock, revealed that the ringleader of the kidnap gang, “Garba Abubakar, a.k.a. Dogo”, was picked up by police detectives from Alfarma village in Gangaza Local Government Area of Sokoto State.
A cellular phone belonging to the late Ubulu-Uku king, which was taken from him by his abductors, was eventually tracked by security operatives and recovered from a Fulani security guard at a filling station in Asaba, he said.
Another cellular phone, a “Nokia Asha 201” handset belonging to the pastor who was driving with the deceased traditional ruler on the fateful day was also tracked and eventually recovered from a young lady in Adamawa State, identified simply as Farida Abubakar.
The police commissioner said that the said Farida Abubakar, who is believed to be a mistress of the gang leader, “Dogo” was arrested on 29 January, 2016 in Ngurore town, Adamawa State.
FB_IMG_1455486995607Alkali, who refused to answer journalists’ question why the suspected kidnappers were not in handcuffs but were looking relatively clean whereas other suspects paraded before newsmen, including two suspected jewelry thieves, were in handcuffs, further said that one Usman Musbau had earlier been nabbed by the police in Asaba on 8 January, 2016 after deleting “all traceable information” on the late monarch’s phone.
“Suleiman Musa (male), the second-in-command of the kidnap gang, was arrested on 16 January, 2016 and has confessed to the crime, and mentioned his gang members”, the Delta police commissioner said.
According to Alkali, after the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Igbodo Police Station informed a patrol team of the abduction at about 4.20 p.m. on Tuesday, 5 January, 2016, “The hoodlums opened communication using the Obi’s phone and demanded for ransom” the following day.
“While this (negotiation) was on, on 7/1/2016 one Pastor Afamefuna Charles Ugbo was found wandering and taken to Umunede Police Station and he confirmed being kidnapped with the Obi who picked him in his car in Ubulu-Uku on 5/1/2016.”
However, it was “the leader of the gang”, Garba “Dogo” Abubakar, who told the newsmen at the police command headquarters in Asaba, that his gang had actually laid ambush on the Obior-Igbodo Road with the intention to rob people passing through the road.
Abubakar, who disclosed that some of them actually spent the nights at Ubulu-Uku and Asaba towns while they negotiated for ransom from persons close to the royal palace in Ubulu-Uku, said that he was not present when Ofulue III was shot dead.
He claimed that he learnt later that the late monarch was eventually shot by a member of the gang as he apparently wanted to escape on the third night after his abduction.
He also claimed that one of the accounts of the shooting said the royal father seized a gun from one of the kidnappers and shot him dead while another gang member in turn shot the king dead.
However, another account said one of the criminals shot the monarch before another member of the gang shot dead his partner in crime in anger because they had not yet got the ransom paid to them.
The man who was said to be occupying the passenger’s seat while the late king drove his SUV towards Asaba on the fateful day, Charles Afamefuna said that he did not witness the actual killing of the Ubulu-Uku king as he took to his heels when it became clear the kidnappers wanted to kill him first, apparently to force the Ubulu-Uku palace to pay the ransom demanded.
Sporting a deep blue T-shirt with the head of a dragon on the front, Afamefuna who said he is “a pastor at the Power Temple of God Church in Ubulu-Uku”, narrated how the late monarch offered to drop him at Onicha-Ugbo junction on the Benin-Asaba Expressway on January 5, 2016.
He said that he had gone to the Ubulu-Uku palace in connection with a programme he was planning with some traditional rulers in the area but was abducted with the deceased royal father and moved from one point to another in the bush with the monarch until he managed to escape on one of the nights only to hear three gunshots behind him where the king was apparently killed.
He revealed that they were made to trek for several hours in the dark without any light during the three days when they moved them from one hideout to another.
Afamefuna, who gave a detailed account of their ordeal with their heavily armed seven-member gang, revealed that the criminals had earlier dispossessed the late monarch of about $1,100 (one thousand one hundred dollars) cash and other amounts in various currencies before insisting on the payment of millions of naira as ransom.
He said that he had given the king his pair of canvas to the king who was barefooted as he left his footwear in the vehicle when they had tried to escape from the about seven abductors armed with AK-47 rifles.
From Afamefuna’s account, the Ubulu-Uku monarch was apparently killed three days after he was abducted by the youthful Fulani kidnappers.
Meanwhile, the police commissioner confirmed the arrest of three persons in connection with the alleged plot to defraud the Delta State Government of N7 billion but declined further comment on the matter, saying investigation was ongoing.
Also on Friday, other suspected kidnappers, cultist, armed robbers and burglars were paraded before newsmen. They were arrested during separate operations by the police in Warri including two suspects who allegedly stole gold jewelries valued at about N1.6million from a woman at Igbudu Market in Warri, Ogwashi-Uku and Irri in Oleh in Isoko South Local Government Area of the state.
*Source: (THISDAY)
