We Butchered Victim After He Recognised Kidnap Mastermind’s Voice –Suspect

 Juliana Francis

A suspected kidnapper, Bello Mohammed, 37, has narrated in chilling details, how they abducted a businessman, Osondu Nwachukwu, cut off his head and cut his body into tiny pieces before stashing them into a sack. Mohammed, a cattle farmer married with two wives and eight children, said they had to carry out the killing immediately it became obvious that Osondu had recognised the voice of the man that hired them to kidnap him for ransom. 

However, Osondu’s wife, Mrs. Nnenna Nwachukwu, had alleged that her husband was murdered because she delayed in raising the N5 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers.

Mohammed said: “While at the hideout, the Igbo man who gave us the job called, and we told him the situation. He said that the wife was lying and not serious to save the life of her husband. Unfortunately, Osondu overheard our conversation and was able to identify the voice of the man that gave us the job. The man told us to kill him after collecting the money.

‘‘We were ready to spare him but his wife was not making any serious effort to get the N5 million. Dogo got angry and said that he was no longer interested in the job. The man begged for his life, but Dogo was blinded with rage and before we could stop him, he used his machete and cut off the man’s head.” The suspect further recollected: “Since he was already dead, Dogo butchered him into pieces and packed him into a sack. I and two others were given the body to dispose at the nearest river.

We tried to dig a grave to bury him, but we feared people might notice us. ‘‘We used a wheelbarrow to move the butchered remains at about 7pm on Sunday, hoping to dispose off his remains. But we were stopped by some men returning from the mosque. We all left the corpse and ran away. I guess they were the ones that reported the matter to the police.”

The Police described the deceased as a successful businessman, who owns a sachet water factory at Lafia, Nasarawa State. He was kidnapped on September, 30, 2019 at his resident and his abductors later called his wife, to demand for N5 million ransom. The petrified woman was said to have dashed from pillar to post, trying valiantly to raise the money.

By the time she could get in touch with the kidnappers, they had butchered Osondu into pieces and stuffed his remains into a sack. The police confirmed that some men who saw the remains dumped in a bush at Bukan Koto along Makurdi Maraba-Ankunza road, Lafia on their way from mosque alerted them and they quickly moved into action, leading to the arrest of Mohammed by operatives of the Force Intelligence Response Team (IRT), headed by a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Mr. Abba Kyari. Mohammed, residing in Nasarawa State, was arrested on March 11. While confessing to the crime, he admitted that he and his other members were not only involved in kidnapping, but also involved in cattle rustling. He identified the fleeing members as Maikano, Dogo, Hassan and Jubril. Mohammed told the police that an Igbo man at Lafia brought the job of abducting Osondu for ransom.

The widow said that she and her late husband have six children. She also said that from time to time, she used to run the sachet water business with him. She recalled that on November 30, 2019, she was at home when the kidnappers stormed their apartment and abducted her husband. She said: “Later in the night, I received a call that I should bring N40 million if I wanted to see my husband alive.

I pleaded with them to have mercy as it was Friday and banks had closed. They asked me how much I had, I said N40, 000. They asked me to bring the money which I did that night. ‘‘We were waiting when I received a call from them that I should not bother as my husband was dead. I was told that the person that arranged his kidnap was from the east, but I’m not suspecting anyone at all. God will punish the person behind my husband’s kidnap and death.” Mohammed claimed that the abduction of Osondu was his first kidnap operation, where they had to kill the victim. Since he started kidnapping for ransom, his biggest haul was N1.3million. He also remembered that there was a time the gang stole 1, 400 cattle and sold them. Asked what security forces could do to check kidnapping in Nigeria, Mohammed said: “The only way to stop kidnapping is by arresting the kingpins and punish them. This is because the kingpins are the ones recruiting boys regularly to replace the ones that were killed or arrested. I take tramadol and marijuana every day and these drugs are expensive.