Bello Mohammed, a confessed member of a kidnap gang has explained how they abducted and killed Osondu Nwachukwu, a businessman as the wife could only raise N40,000 out of the N5m demanded by the group.
Osondu, who operated a sachet water factory in Lafia, Nasarawa State was abducted by Mohammed and four other members at large identified simply as Maikano, Dogo, and Hassan on November 30, 2019.
Mohammed was, however, arrested on March 11 by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Intelligence Response Team.
The 37-year-old farmer, under interrogation, told the police that his brother-in-law, Dogo, persuaded him to join the kidnap gang, and that an unnamed Igbo man in Lafia contracted the gang to kidnap the victim.
Mohammed said, “He told us that the man owned sachet water business but was stingy. He assured us that the man would pay at least N10m because he was rich. He gave us all the details about his movement and advised that the best place to abduct him was his house.
“We went into his house on three motorbikes around 8.30 pm and loitered around his compound, while one of us waited for him at the factory area and followed him home. It was the gang member who alerted us that they were on the way to the house.
As soon as he drove into his compound around 9 pm, we followed and overpowered him. We searched his house for valuables and dragged him along. We carried him on our bikes and threatened to kill him if he raised the alarm. When we got to a spot, we stopped and trekked for hours into Bukan Koto forest in Lafia.”
The gang after Nwachukwu’s abduction, demanded N5m ransom from his wife who appealed to them to collect N40,000 as part payment as it was already late and was told to drop the money at a designated point in the bush.
But while this was going on, the mastermind phoned in and told them that Nwachukwu’s wife was not serious.
“He said the wife was lying and not serious to save the life of her husband. Unfortunately, the man overheard our conversation and was able to identify the person that gave us the job. The man told us to kill him after collecting the money, Mohammed narrated.
“We were ready to spare him but his wife was not making any serious effort. So Dogo got angry and said that he was no longer interested in the job. He used his machete to cut off the man’s head.”
“Dogo butchered him and packed his remains in a sack. Two other members of the gang and I were given the body to dispose of it at the nearest river. We used a wheelbarrow to carry the butchered body but we were stopped by some Fulani men returning from the mosque. We all left the corpse and ran away. I guess they were the ones who reported the matter to the police.”
A police source who confirmed the arrest of Mohammed, said they were about to dispose of the remains of the victim in a bush in the Bukan Koto area along Makurdi Maraba-Ankunza road when some men, who were going to a mosque to pray, saw them conveying the sack in a wheelbarrow.
They abandoned the sack and ran away.
“They saw the corpse of the victim and reported the matter to the police. Acting on credible intelligence, detectives were able to arrest one Bello Mohammed, a native of Lafia Local Government Area, Nasarawa. He confessed to the crime and said that he is part of a kidnapping and cattle rustling gang,” the source told a national publication.
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