‘We held the woman for three months’ – How Nephews Kidnapped & Killed 63-Year-Old Aunt in Imo

Two nephews in the Ohaji/Egbe­ma Local Government Area of Imo State Emeka Chin­edu, 27, and Peter Obido, 28, have been nabbed for allegedly kidnapping and killing their 63-year-old aunt, Ogo Omereji. They reportedly executed the crime with two other accomplices, Gift Emeka, 26, and Sunday Uchenna, 28.

According to The Sun, the four men kept and tortured the woman in the forest for three months and demanded N2 million ransom from the family. After much effort, the family could only raise N510,000, which they paid to the kidnappers. She died while the abductors were waiting for the balance of the ransom to be paid.

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Recounting what transpired, one of the suspects, Gift Emeka, said: “We kidnapped the woman in her farm at Awara in Ohaji/Egbema, tortured her and took her to a forest and demanded N2 million from her relatives. The family paid ransom of N510,000.00. We held the woman for three months. After the relatives paid part of the money, we started waiting for the balance of the ransom. But after two weeks, the woman died in the forest.”

Another suspect, Sunday Uchenna, added: “She is our relative and we are all from the same Awara Community. Immediately after the victim died, we quickly looked for a shovel and dug a grave in the forest where we buried her corpse. We didn’t inform the family that the victim who was in our custody had died. When we waited for the balance of the ransom and we didn’t hear from them again, we shared the N510, 000 among ourselves and left the forest.”

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Operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Imo State Police Command launched an investigation after the woman was reported missing by her family and soon got a breakthrough, which led to arrest of the suspects.

One of the victim’s children said:

“We were shocked when we heard that two of the four suspects arrested by the police happened to be our relations, Emeka Chinedu and Peter Obido.

It is still a mystery to us that our relations were part of the gang that kidnapped, tortured and murdered our mother. She was in their custody for good three months. After they kidnapped her, they demanded N2million ransom. We paid N510,000 to them but we didn’t hear from them again. We thought she was missing for good. When the police arrested them, the gang took us, the police and the community to where they buried our mother.”

The victim’s decomposing body has been reportedly exhumed and released to the family for proper burial as youths in the community call for justice.

Imo State Commis­sioner of Police, Mr Taiwo Lakanu, said the suspects will be arraigned in court soon.