I didn’t know kidnappers killed Sports Commissioner, says …farmer who allegedly planned abduction

Juliana Francis

 

An English Education graduate, University of Calabar, Cross River State, Andrew Ogbeche, has been arrested for allegedly orchestrating the murder of his boss, Hon. Egbe Ediagbonya, a former Commissioner for Sports and Local Government Council Chairman in Edo State.

 

Ediagbonya was kidnapped on May 16, at about 2am and taken away at gunpoint. After his abduction, the kidnappers called, demanding N15 Million ransom. But the kidnappers, later hurriedly collected N1 Million ransom.

 

An hour later after the ransom payment, the kidnappers sent a text message to the family, telling them where to pick his corpse.  It took the family some days to locate his remains in the forest.

 

When Ogbeche was asked why he organised the abduction of his boss, he initially claimed the deceased owned him salaries, but then changed his lyrics, insisting he didn’t know anything about the man’s abduction or murder.

He said that he had already left the deceased’s employment almost four months before the abduction and subsequent murder.

 

Ogbeche, however, admitted to have collected N100, 000 as his share of the ransom money. He blamed the abduction and murder of his boss on his friend, identified as Paul.

 

The suspect, who said that he had not married because of financial challenges, explained: “Yes, I used to work for the Commissioner. I was one of his labourers, working on his Palm Oil Farm. I was on a N10, 000 monthly salary. I worked every day. We worked twice every day; morning and evening. I used to clear the bushes and help in bringing out the palm fruits. I worked with him for two months, but he paid only a month, promising to pay me later. I need to be consistent. While I was working for him, I had no plans to kidnap him. While I was still working with him, a guy met me one day and said that his transport fare was not complete. The guy’s name is Paul. I assisted him to complete his bus fare.”

 

Ogbeche further narrated: “He asked where I was living and promised to visit. He started coming to visit me. One day, he told me that it would be interesting to abduct my boss. He said that although he didn’t know my boss, he could tell from my boss’s living environment that he must be very rich. I warned him not to try it. But he kept visiting and even threatened to kill me if I exposed his plans. I’m the only child of my mother. I needed to stay alive, so that my mother would reap the fruit of her labour. The day they kidnapped my boss, he told me and I was scared. He later gave me N100, 000.  When I collected the money from him, I didn’t know they had killed my boss. If I had known, I wouldn’t have collected the money. It was later I saw one of my friends in town, who told me my boss had been killed. I was devastated and grieved.”

 

Ediagbonya’s journey to the grave started on May 3, 2020, after he received a threat message. The sender simply told him that they were coming for him and that he should get the police and army ready. On May 16, the kidnappers carried out their threat.

 

The deceased was kidnapped at his residence, at Utese village near Okada Ovia, North East Local Government Area of Edo State.

 

The distraught family members, determined to find his killers and get justice, petitioned the Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Adamu, who instructed the head of the Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT), a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Abba Kyari, to investigate the matter.

 

Several weeks of investigation led to the arrest of 35-year-old old Ogbeche, who is from Bewarre village in Ogoja Local Government Area of Cross River State.

 

A police source said: “The phone used in sending a threat message to the deceased was recovered from Ogbeche. He said that his friend, Paul, brought the idea of kidnapping the deceased for ransom. After the abduction of the victim, Paul called and told him that the operation was successful. A few days later, Paul called and asked him to come and collect his share of the ransom. Paul gave him N100, 000, but didn’t disclose the total amount collected from the victim’s family. He said that he was also not told that the victim was killed. He said that when he found out about the murder of his boss, he called Paul, but his phone lines were switched off. We’ve asked him to give us Paul’s phone number, so that we can go after him, but he said the number had disappeared from his phone contacts.”

 

Ogbeche said: “During those times that Paul visited, he met and watched my boss. He even approached him, saying that he needed a job. He became close to my boss, who trusted him. I didn’t do anything to bring them close. Paul did everything himself. I only collected the N100, 000 because I was broke. I regretted collecting that money.”