‘Phone call during prayers is God warning me to quit kidnapping’

*Inmate plans top kidnapping from prison

Mr. Ugochukwu Gabriel Mbah, 33, is asking himself today what the heck he was thinking when he took to kidnapping like duck to water.

He said he could have been a pastor, but kidnapping into his life and held sway.

He was arrested by the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase’s Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT). The team was led by a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr. Abba Kyari.

He said he is now a born again kidnapper. He is often seen clutching a bible and preaching to other detainees.

Before his arrest, he was like a lion during operations; now, he’s as docile as a lamb.

According to him, he was destined to be a pastor, but he had repeatedly refused to heed the call of God. He said that sometimes, he would be having his morning devotion with his family and his gang members would call him for an operation. He would quickly run through the prayer session and off he goes to kidnap another victim for ransom. He said that those times that his gang members called while he was praying with his family, was God calling and warning him to quit crime.

His words: “It was when they arrested me I realised God was warning me to quit crime. That’s why he allowed Onyema to always call me whenever I was praying with my family. I’m destined to be a pastor; it’s just that I have not accepted my calling. Come to the police cell today; you’ll notice that all the inmates are gradually giving their lives to Christ.”

Mbah is one of the five people arrested for kidnapping in Imo State. Detectives attached to SIRT, described the gang as, ‘notorious Imo State Kidnappers.” The gang members were arrested in Imo, Anambra and Abia states.

Others members now in police custody are; Kenneth Levi, 32, Onyema Uzodinma, 31, Udochukwu Nwanguma, 37,
and Nduka Nwankwo, 25.

Two AK47 rifles, two magazines with 52 rounds of live ammunition, one Beretta pistol and one pump action gun were recovered from the gang.

Mbah, the only son of his father, who has three wives and 15 children, said that part of the troubles that led him into crime were his uncles.
His words: “My uncles are against me. They want to take my lands. It got to a point that I was poisoned and it took me months to recover.”

He explained that in 2012, he travelled to Angola in search of greener pastures but was deported. He said that he was deported because the authorities said he didn’t have up to N1million in his bank account.
He said: “I genuinely wanted to do business there, but they refused. Back in Nigeria, I was dead broke and all my efforts to live a decent life were frustrated. I decided to survive by any means.”
 It was during this tough time that his friend, Richard, gave him accommodation. Richard brought him to Owerri. Richard later told him that his source of livelihood was kidnapping for ransom. Mbah joined the business and was introduced to Nduka.

To show commitment, Mbah assisted the gang in raising money to guns.

“My initial duty was to stay in the bush with victims, but I refused because as a married man, what would I tell my family was my reason for switching off my phone? I ended up picking the simplest job; to sell all the stolen cars. I did that severally and was given my share. I was able to save enough money to buy Lexus Jeep and to show my friends in Lagos that I was doing well,” said Mbah.

One of his friends, Ade, after seeing the Jeep, was immediately onto Mbah. Ade asked him if he could get him cheap cars.

Mbah told him that most exotic cars, which were sold cheap, were stolen ones. Mbah asked Ade if he was still keen on doing business. To show that he was interested, Ade gave Mbah a pump action rifle as a gift. Mbah was stunned and thrilled.

Mbah said: “In this business, such a gift is priceless. I told the gang in Owerri of my specification; Lexus 330. They got it in less than two days. I warned Ade to remove the tracking device, but he was careless. The owners traced the car to Lagos and Ade was arrested.”

Immediately he got information Ade had been arrested, Mbah went underground. He was still in hiding when he heard that police had arrested Richard.

After he came out of hiding, Mbah decided to start organizing kidnapping operations. He called Nduka and told him of his intention. Mbah volunteered his car for scouting for victims.

He described his first operation as a flop. He said they got a Toyota Highlander from the deal, but not money. He said they kidnapped a female teacher. She turned out to be part of those owned salaries by Imo State Government.
“We trailed her till she got to the gate of her house. I used my car to block hers, while others jumped down and forced her into our car. They took her to our camp in Urata, while I drove the Highlander to Abia State where it was sold for N300, 000. I was still waiting to collect the money when my boys called. They said they could only get N17, 000 from her and that he husband, a pensioner, couldn’t raise any money. When I heard she’s a teacher, I asked them to release her.”

One day, Richard called him from Owerri Prison. Richard told life was tough in prison, stressing that he needed Mbah’s assistance.  Richard told him to join forces with some specialists from Aba. Mbah initially refused, but later agreed.

Mbah recalled: “I ignored Richard for some weeks till I received a call while I was praying. I was praying with my family one morning and I got a call from Onyema. I told him I would call him back. I refused to call back, but Onyema later called me. They convinced me. I invited Nduka and some of my boys to join since I didn’t trust these specialists.”

They told Mbah that they needed his car for the operation they wanted to carry out. On January 7, 2016, the kidnappers struck.

Mbah recalled: “We spotted a man with an exotic car. We followed him till he got to the gate of his house. He was waiting for someone to open the gate when we pounced and overpowered him. His wife saw us, but we simply told her to keep her phone close. I wanted to take over the car but I discovered that it had tracker. We abandoned the car and used my own.”

The man they kidnapped, right in front of his house, under his wife’s nose, is Victor Ogadinma. The man was just returning from South Africa. Ogadinma paid N1million ransom before he was released.

Ogadinma said: “I’m based in South Africa. I came back during Christmas period to see my family. I was on my way home, in-front of my house, waiting for my family to open the gate, when three armed men accosted me. The time was around 7.30pm. My wife came out while they were struggling to push me into the car. She was pushed down.
“They asked me if the car had a tracker, I said yes. They transferred me into another car. They took me to Port Harcourt Road. They asked me if I had money. I told them there were N220, 000, $2000 dollars and some European currencies. They blindfolded and took me to a house. They later moved me to another house in a village around 4am. They dropped me inside a dirty kitchen and demanded that my family should bring N30million. I told them my family could only afford N5million. The next day, my family was able to give them N1million. I was kidnapped on January 7, 2016 and released January 10, 2016. They offered me food, but I preferred water.”

When the ransom was paid, Mbah gave his wife money to cook and went to prison to see Richard. He gave him his share of the loot.

Another suspect, Nwankwo, said he was selling fairly used clothes in Aba, until Richard paid him a visit.

Nwankwo said: “He asked me if I had like to make real money. I told him that I was ready to do anything to make money and save myself from poverty. To test me, he took me into the bush where they held a man hostage. They gave me N80, 000 just for observing. I later did a lot of jobs with them, especially in Imo State until police arrested Richard.”

Nwankwo confessed that the first operation he did was the kidnap of the teacher who was owned salary by the Imo State Government.

Nwankwo said: “She didn’t have money. I even checked her account with her ATM and discovered it was empty. We found books, jewelry and N17, 000 she just withdrew. Her husband, a pensioner tried his best, but couldn’t raise anything. I gave her N1000 and released her since they took her highlander. After the South African returnee kidnap, police came and raided the area. They found me with cocaine.”

Levi, another suspect, has a sorrowful look on his face. He said his girlfriend is heavily pregnant. He regretted he wouldn’t be there for their birth of their baby.

Narrating how his life of crime started, Levi said he dropped out of junior secondary school and started doing menial jobs. He raised money and started operating a chemist.

He said: “I did well until fire gutted the shop in 2010. During those days, I had friends who were into bad things. Most of them ended up in prison. They are Chima and Obinna. They are still in prison. They are my village brothers. They were arrested over car snatching. When they got to prison, they met Richard. He told them he had guns.  They too said that they had a gun somewhere and that Chimakpa their brother would show them where the guns were hidden. My brothers called me from the prison. They convinced me that they needed that gun to raise money to pursue their release. They asked me to go back and wait for a call from Chimakpa.

“I met Chimakpa at an agreed venue. He was driving a Range Rover. He told me that he just came back from prison. He showed me the guns and said that we would use them for KP. KP means kidnapping. I agreed to work with him, not just to help those in prison but because I needed money.”

Chimakpa however said he wouldn’t work with Levi because he didn’t have a car. Levi went to meet his father.

“I had to convince my dad to sell one of his lands to raise money for me. My dad had no choice because he had already lost two of his sons to death. I was special to him. I used the money to buy a car.”

Levi said that after the car, Chimakpa gave him the guns to keep and they embarked on series of kidnappings. After a while, Chimakpa introduced Levi to some of his gang members.  

He noted: “That was how I met Onyema. I also assisted them to buy AK47 rifles from Calabar. I realized Chimakpa and his friends were cheating me because they owned the guns. I started making excuses whenever there was an operation. I wanted to start my own gang. Luckily, Chimakpa was arrested and since I had access to those guns, I started looking for my gang members. My brothers in prison linked me up with Richard. Richard is an inmate with several links outside. He was the one who introduced me to Ugochukwu.”
On his arrest, he said: “I was in my house; one of my friends called me, asking for where to buy ammunition, police arrested me.”

Uzodinma, whose girlfriend is also heavily pregnant, said his journey into the criminal world dates back to 2007.  

His words: “After dropping out of secondary school, I learnt how to wash cars and gradually established my own car wash. I had one generous customer, Chief Chiemezie Eze. We became friends. He told me one day that he used to buy stolen cars. I told him that I was willing to do anything that would help me grow financially. He asked if I was willing to help him to transport stolen cars from Owerri to Aba. I said yes. We agreed that he would pay me N15, 000 for each car I successfully transported to Aba. Unfortunately, the first day that I tried, I landed in police net. I was on my way to Aba when policemen stopped me along Aba-Port Harcourt Road. I told them the car belonged to my chairman. It was a black Toyota Corolla. To further convince them, I called Chief. He told them that he would come the next day. He didn’t. The police concluded that it was a stolen car. I was sent to prison. I was remanded in Owerri Prison for seven months and within those months, Chief Eze was also arrested and sent to the same prison.”

Uzodinma was later granted bail through the help of his mother’s lawyer. To ensure he didn’t go back to crime, his parents bought him motorbike for commercial purpose. Uzodinma ran into a guy who sold the idea of kidnapping for ransom to him; he bought it.

He said: “I did several jobs with them. I was very important to the group because they normally use the bush in my area to keep all the persons that we kidnapped. The game came to an end when one of our members refused to abide by the rules. We kidnapped a woman and her son and kept them in the bush. It was my responsibility to send food to them, but the guy that was asked to watch over them, decided to come out of the bush. He was not known within the area. The villagers immediately knew something was wrong. I guessed that was why police stormed the area.”

Nwanguma, married with five kids, said that his after secondary school, he relocated to Benin where he learnt to be a Mechanic. According to him, financial difficulties and many kids forced him into crime.

He said that it was in the midst of the trying times, that his townsman, Ugochukwu, became very close to him. The friendship started with Ugochukwu asking him to drive one or two cars, after which he pays him.

Then in January 2016, about 11pm, he received a phone call. Ugochukwu told him that there was a man they kidnapped; that they needed a place to house him. Nwanguma suggested his mother’s kitchen.

“I was the one taking care of the man. The man was even scared that they might kill him, but I assured him that as long as he was with me, nobody would hurt him. The man said that if I could help him escape, he would find a way to give me money. In the evening, Ugochukwu and other moved him. I was so happy that I had money to settle my debt. On the January 14 night, I was with my family when I now saw the headlight of a car. I saw Ugochukwu sitting on the passenger’s seat. I asked him how far, he said there was trouble. We were later arrested. I’m worried about my kids. Government should forgive me because of them.”