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Three Brothers Arrested For Killing 55 year-old Widow

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It took a little while but karma caught up with 38-year old Johnson Emmanuel who killed and buried a 55-year old woman in his backyard at Wumba Community in Apo area of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

Police operatives attached to the Intelligence Response Unit of the Nigeria Police Force arrested him alongside his two younger brothers Gideon, 31 and Success, 27, for the kidnap and murder of one Mrs Janet Nnenna Ogbonnaya on Thursday May 14, 2020. She had lost her husband last year.

Johnson, though admitting to killing the woman, said they were not kidnappers.

The suspects, *all born of same parents and natives of Isiekenesi, Ideato local government area of Imo State* were arrested by the Police in their home town this week where they had taken refuge after the crime was committed in Abuja.

The police said they moved from Abuja to evade arrest.

The Police said they began investigation into the matter, when a son of the deceased, Chinedu, reported that their mother had been kidnapped and a five million naira ransome placed on her head by unknown persons.

According to Johnson, the woman had been a friend of his for two years and they had met through Facebook, a popular social media platform.

But another son of the deceased, Jonathan, who spoke with The Nation on Friday, said it was not true.

Johnson admitted that he laced the woman’s drink with drugs which killed her that Thursday night.

According to him, she had visited him that day is his house located around Second Transformer, Wumba in Apo area of of Abuja.

He said that she had told him that she wanted to leave, but he insisted that she stayed the night in his house.

He said because he did not want to struggle, he had gone to a nearby chemist shop and asked them to give him some sleeping drugs so he could put it in her drink so she could sleep off till the next morning in his house as he wanted.

According to him after she took the drink, she slept off and did not wake up again. Panicking, he called his younger brother Gideon, to help him deal with the situation, and they eventually ended up burying her in a septic tank in his backyard.

Johnson said the compound belonged to him and he had sold it off at a giveaway price, so he could get the matter behind him.

He said they decided to talk to the woman’s family about ransome, so they would think she had been kidnapped by unknown persons, and would not be traced back to him.

A Toyota Highlander Jeep, which belonged to the deceased, was also been recovered by Police operatives at a mechanic workshop in Apo where it had been repainted into a different colour, vehicle documents fraudulently changed and ownership of the stolen vehicle criminally transferred, Johnson Emmanuel.

Johnson narrated, “This thing happened on 14th of last month. I have known her for two years now. We have been dating. Anytime she comes to my house, she will always go back. So that day she came to my house and wanted to go back, and I did not want her to go. So I went and bought her sleeping medicine for her to sleep with me. I went to the pharmacy to buy the sleeping medicine. It was a powdery substance. I put it in a juice and she slept and did not wake up again. When she did not wake up, I then called my junior brother, Gideon, around 9.30 and 10. I told him I wanted to see him. He came and I told him and I told him that my friend died in my house. I explained everything to him. I suggested that I wanted to bury him in my backyard and he said no. He advised me to put her inside the car and dump her by the roadside.

“I did not agree. I was afraid people would see us and report us and it would be a murder case. That is how he helped me and we buried her in the soakaway in the compound.”

According to him, the last brother was not involved in what happened.

On why he called the woman’s family for ransome, he said, “I told my brother that I wanted to make it seem like she was kidnapped so nobody would suspect that it was me. That is why I called. I called and told them to pay ransome and after two days I broke my sim card and her own, so there would be no communication anymore.

“I knew that definitely they would trace the call, they may know I am the one that killed him. I called my brother and told him I was confused. I was afraid the police may trace her to my house and I sold the house for an auction price. My house is at Bakassi Market, Wumba, Apo. I thought by then nobody would suspect me but they would think it was kidnappers.

“When I put her SIM in her phone, one number called, but I don’t know the person. The person said his name was Mr Igwe and he was looking for the woman. I gave my brother the phone. My brother was afraid. I told him this is what we would do for us to get out of this mess. If we say it is kidnappers, they would not trace it to us. Since that day i did not call again and broke our sim cards.

“I met her on Facebook two years ago. I came to Abuja in 2018 and met her. Before then we were communicating on Facebook. And then we started the relationship. I drugged her because I wanted her to pass the night and go the next morning. I don’t know why I did that. I don’t know the name of the drug. I just asked for medicine to make someone sleep at the chemist. It was in a sachet. I am not a kidnapper. I only did that to take suspicion from me. I have never killed before. I am a welder by profession, but I also CCTV,” he claimed.

He said he regretted what he did and advised men not to be lacing women’s drinks with drugs as it was dangerous.

Johnson said he had a girlfriend, Charity, who he met in church and they started dating in January.

Gideon, who he claims he called, said he did report the matter to the police, because it was his brother involved.

He confessed that he suggested they take the body in the vehicle she brought and dump her somewhere.

“I am not happy that I had to cover his sin. I asked him why must it be me that you call? I told him to take the lady out maybe tomorrow morning, people would be able to identify her. He argued with me that very night. He said he wanted to put the lady in the soakaway at the backyard. When I came there he had opened the soakaway already and I ran out. Since that day I never went back to the house again, until when we went with the police to get the corpse on Thursday.

“I did not go to the police immediately and that is a mistake I did. I was doing it because he is my blood brother and I would not be the one to call the police for him. I told him not to involve me. It was not until I was arrested that I told the police what happened,” Gideon said.

The deceased’s son, Jonathan, said Johnson was not telling the truth.

“That is his own side of the story. From my own knowledge of people, anybody can say anything to sell their story. I don’t buy into that. Why would a woman want to throw away her marriage of 35 years. For who? A nobody? What does he have to offer? Is it not the same house we went to excavate the body from the back? So what exactly does he have to offer? Any this is a matter i should not be talking about especially with you guys. As a matter of fact, I know what you guys want is a good story to sell,” he said.

He said his mother never went out except on business, to church, town-meetings, and the market.

Jonathan, who said his father died and was buried in May last years, said there was no way his mother dated Johnson.

Narrating their traumatic experience when their mother went missing, he said, “I didn’t live with my mother. I live in Kubwa, but my family house is in Gwagwalada. So the last time we spoke was on Monday 10 May. I visited the family house that weekend and I left on Monday morning and I told her I was heading back to my base in Kubwa. That was the last time we spoke face to face, and when I got back to my base, I called to tell them I was home. Fast forward to Friday the 15th, at about 8.30 to 9 am my younger one called me that she left the house on Thursday and that was then last they heard from her. So I did the needful, i reported to the police. I filled the form for missing persons. I did that at Gwagwalada. I did my own personal search with my friends. We traced the road from Gwagwalada to town, trying to see, if we could figure out one or two things. Maybe there was an accident or something, but we could not pinpoint anything. That was Friday.

“Throughout this period her line was down. So Saturday morning, as a lot of people had been trying her number, because we informed as much friends of the family as we could just to find out if possible she could be reached. There was a storm that night so we thought maybe she had difficulty getting to Gwagwalada that night and decided to stay over somewhere. She is not someone who goes out frequently. She only goes out on business, church and townsmeeting. And of course the market. These are the things that take her out of the house. So that Saturday we kept trying and it connected. It was the voice of a man that answered. It was actually a deep voice at that time. We asked to speak to owner of the phone and the person informed us that he was a kidnapper and he was with my mum and they would be needing us to pay the sum of five million naira to facilitate her release.

“So it was surprising to mention the least. We tried rallying around to get the money. We spoke to them that Saturday and Sunday and they stopped calling. But as at Saturday when we realized what happened, we knew it was a kidnap case and we reported the case again and it was no longer the case of missing person, but a kidnap case. We did not hear from them again. So in our own little effort, we were still searching, until we heard the people that were behind the disappearance of my mother had been apprehended. The police called me on Tuesday. We were told to come around on Thursday.”

Investigations by the police began as soon as the complaint was laid Ogbonnaya, and a native of Ozuitem in Bende local government area of Abia State had been kidnapped and a 5five million naira ransom demanded before she could be released. A comprehensive and painstaking investigation by the police operatives resulted in the arrest of the three (3) suspects, whom, in the course of interrogation, revealed that the victim had long been murdered and buried.

According to the Police, further findings had revealed that the victim, a widow, had been a Facebook friend of the principal suspect – Johnson Emmanuel, and was lured from her home in Gwagwalada to visit the suspect. The suspect thereafter took advantage of the visit, served her yoghurt laced with drugs and subsequently had her murdered.

“The suspect having killed the victim and buried her remains in a septic tank, went ahead to reach out to the family of the victim using her phone and demanded 5-Million naira ransom as pre-condition for her release,” a statement by the Force Public Relatins Officer, DCP, Frank Mba, read on Thursday.

The Police said the suspects led a team of investigators, on Thursday, alongside pathologists to a residence at Wumba District, Lokogoma, Abuja where the victim’s decomposing body was exhumed from a septic tank.

The exhumed body had been taken to the University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada, Abuja for forensic examination.

The Police said investigations also revealed that the house where the deceased was killed and buried originally belonged to one of the suspects but was hurriedly sold-off to a third party apparently to obliterate evidence.

“The Inspector-General of Police, IGP M.A Adamu, NPM, mni, while commending the operatives for a job well done, reassures that perpetrators of any form of crimes in the country will not go undetected and unpunished. He however enjoins citizens to be more security conscious and report any suspicious activities within their neighbourhood to the nearest police station,” the statement read.

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Fuel Subsidy Removal: FG, Labour Meeting Ends in Deadlock

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Talks between the Federal Government and organised labour over the removal of fuel subsidy ended in a deadlock on Wednesday as they failed to reach a consensus following the hike in petrol pump prices to over N700 from N195 per litre by oil marketers.

The hours-long meeting which was held at the Presidential Villa was to, among other things, prevent a labour crisis following the recent increase in the petrol pump price occasioned by the discontinuance of petroleum subsidy.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation Limited said it had adjusted the pump price of Premium Motor Spirit to reflect the market realities. The agency, however, failed to state the new prices of petrol.

However, several retails outlets sold the product between 600 and N800 in Lagos, Abuja , Ogun and some other states.

The National Public Relations Officer, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Chief Chinedu Ukadike, pointed out that the hike in the cost of PMS would trigger galloping inflation in the country, stressing that some outlets in the South-East were currently dispensing the product at N1,200/l.

Ukadike stated, “Once NNPCL retail stations have adjusted their pumps to reflect the new price, there is nothing you can do about it; that is the new price. As I speak with you, all of them are now selling at the new prices. The situation is so bad, that somewhere in Ebonyi State our members informed us that it is now N1,200/litre.

“We thought the President would remove the subsidy through a seamless means because the source of this petrol is the NNPCL. They are the ones subsidising petroleum products, they are the people who use their revenue to subsidise this product.’’

The IPMAN spokesperson expressed worry over the rate of increase in inflation and hardship that would come as a result of the latest hike in petrol price.

“This hike in petrol price will definitely lead to galloping inflation and will worsen the hardship already being faced by the Nigerian masses. It is not something to cheer about. It came as a surprise and in the coming days, we will see the very harsh ripple effects,” he stated.

Meanwhile, Ukadike has called on the Federal Government and the NNPCL to give other marketers the opportunity to start importing petrol in order to create competition in the sector.

“The NNPCL is importing and has not given people the opportunity to join them in importing so as to see whether private sector operators can import the product cheaper or not. So there is no competition. In a deregulated regime, there must be competition, everyone with capacity should be allowed to import,” the IPMAN official stated.

When asked whether other marketers could resume imports since the government had finally deregulated petrol prices, Ukadike replied, “Marketers can import, but let me tell you some of the factors militating against this. The first is that there won’t be availability of dollars.

“You will source your dollar from the parallel market and if you are not careful in doing this, and you go into the importation of petroleum products, you might not ‘come out of it alive’ at the end of the day.

“So what we are saying is that those advantages that NNPCL has, should be shared with other major importers of petroleum products. If it is through crude buy-back, they should let us know so that independent players such as IPMAN members can come together and be able to use it in the buy-back model.’’

He added, “For independent marketers, the most important thing is that there should be availability of petroleum products, and the government should open up the space for importers and investors to come in.”

NNPCL, the sole importer of petrol into Nigeria for several years running, confirmed the hike in petrol price in a statement and a new pricing template released to marketers nationwide.

But the move has sparked a groundswell of anger across the nation with the Nigeria Labour Congress demanding an immediate reversal of the decision.

The union also said it would hold an emergency meeting on Friday on the fuel price increase which had triggered hoarding and scarcity across the country with attendant rise in transport fares, goods and services.

The fuel price hike by the oil firm is coming 72 hours after President Bola Tinubu declared in his inaugural address on Monday that the subsidy regime had ended.

To pacify the growing anger over the situation, the FG hastily summoned some labour leaders to a meeting at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday evening.

The meeting had in attendance the NLC President, Joe Ajaero and his Trade Union Congress counterpart, Festus Osifo, former NLC President and immediate past governor of Edo State, Adams Oshiomhole, Permanent Secretary, State House, Tijjani Umar, Head of Service of the Federation, Dr Folashade Yemi-Esan, Group Chief Executive Officer of the NNPCL, Mele Kyari, and others, however, ended in a deadlock as the labour and government teams failed to reach a consensus.

Speaking at the end of the meeting, Joe Ajaero, said “As far as labour is concerned, we didn’t have a consensus in this meeting.”

He faulted the NNPCL over an official release published hours earlier reviewing the petrol pump price in its filling stations nationwide.

He said the move puts the labour unions in a difficult position on the negational table.

“That’s the principle of negotiation. You don’t put the partner, ask them to negotiate under gunpoint. The prayer of the NLC is that we go back to the status quo, negotiate, think of alternatives and all the effects and how to manage the effects this action is going to have on the people. If it is an action that must take off.

“The subsidy provision has been made up to the end of June. And before then, conscious people, labour management, and the government should be able to think of what will happen at the end of June. You don’t start it before the time,” Ajaero said.

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Breaking: Founder, DAAR Communications, Raymond Dokpesi is Dead

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By Eric Elezuo

The Founder of DAAR Communications, owners of the foremost radio and television stations in Nigeria, Raypower and African Independent Television (AIT), High Chief Raymond Dokpesi, is dead.

Reliable sources said the High Chief died while exercising on a treadmill on Monday afternoon.

The source said Dopkesi suffered a stroke some weeks ago.

Details soon…

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I Stand on Rule of Law, with Our Candidate, Atiku Abubakar, PDP, Says Dele Momodu

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By Eric Elezuo

Frontline journalist and Director of Strategic Communications of the Atiku/Okowa Presidential Council in the just concluded Presidential election, Chief Dele Momodu, had said that he remains a loyal member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and will always stand on the side of rule of law, and with the party’s presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

Momodu made the revelations in a statement he signed himself, noting that the last election, which brought Asiwaju Bola Tinubu to power, was savagely manipulated by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

He praised the steps Atiku, and the presidential candidate of the Labour candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, have taken in seeking legal redress.

The statement in details:

I STAND ON RULE OF LAW

My position on the state of our country NIGERIA is simple and straightforward. I’m a loyal member of PDP who owes absolute allegiance to Nigeria and its Rule of Law. My political party PDP and others passionately hold the view that the last Presidential election was savagely manipulated by the ruling party APC and the cases are already in courts. Nothing will make me abandon my party on the altar of convenience and profit. Win or lose, I will continue to stand on this principle without any malice or prejudice against those who think otherwise. Democracy is a game of choice and I’m resolutely standing by our candidate, the former Vice President ALHAJI ATIKU ABUBAKAR (GCON) who has taken the honorable and peaceful step of going to court to seek redress. This is the only way we can deepen our hard earned Democracy. Sacrifice is not always convenient but painful.

I salute and respect The Wazirin Adamawa and others like my dear friend and Brother, former Governor Peter Obi, the Labor Party Presidential candidate, for promoting the best tenets of Democracy in Nigeria and I’m willing to encourage them rather than discourage their onerous quests…

CHIEF DELE MOMODU

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