I was hypnotized, kidnapped, taken to my lover’s house

…claims lady alleged to have staged her abduction

Juliana Francis

The police have arrested a mother of three for allegedly staging her own abduction and collecting ransom from her distraught family.

The suspect, Chizoba Ogbonna (36) was arrested at Abriba-Ohafia, Abia State, by operatives of the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT).

Ogbonna is a graduate of Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education, Owerri, Imo State. She was arrested along with Uche Anthony and Joseph Ezema, who allegedly assisted her in orchestrating and executing the bogus abduction.

According to operatives, N500, 000 had already been paid into Ogbonna’s bank account as ransom, before the IRT operatives swooped on the suspects.

A police officer disclosed: “One of Ogbonna’s relatives petitioned the IGP, Mohammed Adamu, about her abduction and the subsequent demand for N2million as ransom. The relatives said that Ogbonna’s kidnappers were threatening to kill her within hours if their demands were not met.”

The IGP immediately deployed a crack team of operatives from the IRT, headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, to track down the kidnappers and rescue Ogbonna.

Ogbonna and her supposed kidnappers were tracked to Agborji Community in Abriba-Ohafia area of the state.

The operatives were shocked when they got to the ‘kidnappers’ den’ and discovered that Ogbonna was romantically and sexually involved with one of her supposed kidnappers, Joseph Ezema.

The source added: “Police also discovered that Ogbonna planned her own abduction in order to get money from her relatives. She intended to use the money to travel of the country with her boyfriend, Joseph.”

Ogbonna, after she was arrested, claimed that she was hypnotized. When she came to her senses, she discovered that she was in her boyfriend’s apartment.

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Police believed that she was still in her lover’s apartment when she put the ransom call through to her family, demanding N2million ransom.

Ogbonna, a primary school teacher, said: “I was formerly married and I had three children with my husband. But I don’t love him. It was as if he held me with a charm in order to get me to marry him. I walked out on the marriage after I came back to my senses.

“In 2018, I met Joseph on Facebook; he told me he was a fashion designer. I told him that I have some jobs for him and from that point, a relationship started. At a point in our relationship, we discussed about traveling out of the country. He told me that he had once spent around N300, 000 for a travelling visa, which didn’t work out for him. On March 13, 2019, I was on my way to visit my sister, when a vehicle stopped right in front of me.

“I saw six people inside the car; one of the people was a lady; she called my name and I responded. She asked me to enter the vehicle. Immediately I obeyed and entered the car, I lost control of my senses. I later found myself in the home of my boyfriend in Agborji. My boyfriend took my phone and called my sister, demanding for ransom. When my sister spoke with me, I begged her to pay the ransom.  I then sent my account number to my sister. She paid N500, 000 into the account. Two days after the money was paid, my boyfriend and I were arrested.”

Narrating his own side of the story, Ezema (30), denied Ogbonna’s claims of being hypnotised.  He revealed that Ogbonna hatched the abduction plan.

Ezema said: “According to her, she wanted to raise money to travel out of Nigeria. I have just a secondary school leaving certificate. I’m not married and I don’t have children.  I was arrested because I faked the abduction of my girlfriend.  I met Chizoba sometimes in April 2018. She is my friend on Facebook; she was always commenting on my photos. We started chatting and from there graduated to dating. She told me that she was a divorcee, and that her husband used to beat her. She said that her husband didn’t allow her to have friends and that there was also a day the man came home with another woman and everything became complicated. It was then she decided to walk out of the marriage. When we started dating, I went to her house to visit her with one of my friends, Antony. I told her that I was planning to travel out of the country. She said she would like to travel with me. But I told her that I didn’t have the money for two of us. It was at that point that she said that I should kidnap her and call her sister to demand for ransom. The plan was that when her sister pays the ransom, we would use the money to travel.

“We traveled to my town in Abriba; she came with a blue phone and two SIM cards.  Two days later, she covered her phone with a cloth and called her sister, pretending to be a kidnapper. She informed her sister that she had been kidnapped and demanded for ransom.  Later on, she got scared and thought that her sister would recognize her voice. It was at that point that my friend, Anthony, took the phone and started negotiating with Chizoba’s sister.  After two weeks of negotiations, her family finally paid N300, 000 into her account.  She asked me to be patient that more money would be paid into her account. On the day we were arrested, her family had paid an additional N200, 000 into her account. They said that was all they could afford; she gave me N100, 000 as my share, but the police came and arrested me.  When I was arrested, I told the police that I was not a kidnapper, that it was my girlfriend that got me into this problem.”