How we stole the ransom from kidnappers of CBN Gov’s wife —Dismissed soldiers

By Ifeanyi Okolie

When the wife of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, governor, Mrs Margaret Emefiele, and four other women alongside her driver were kidnapped on September 29 2016 along the Benin-Agbor Expressway, operatives of the Special Intelligence Response Team, IRT, led by Assistant Commissioner of Police, ACP, Abba Kyari, immediately swung into action. They were released few days later after a ransom demanded by the abductors was reportedly paid. The police however succeeded in arresting all the members of the gang where it was discovered that two serving soldiers were involved in the kidnap.

An interaction with the soldiers, who were formerly attached to the Nigeria Army Third Division, Jos, Plateau State, at the Force Headquarters, Abuja, where they are currently being detained after their dismissal from the armed forces, has revealed that the soldiers, Musa Maidababara, Edwin Gorge and their friend, Ernest Anthony didn’t take part in the kidnap, but they were contacted by some of the kidnappers to help them ferry their share of the ransom out of the bush.

The suspects told Vanguard that they were not aware that the money the kidnappers had in their possession, when they met them were proceeds of kidnap. They said they stole it, thinking it was proceed from the sale of cows

Nine members of the gang, including the soldiers and their friend, were arrested in Benin, Edo State, Asaba Delta State and Makurdi, Benue State by operatives of the IRT, while the sum of N14.7million, two newly bought Honda cars, an Audi car, one Ak-47 magazine and two cartridges were recovered from the suspects.

They all confessed to the crime at the time they were arrested but Ernest Anthony a taxi driver who resided in Benin, Edo State, disclosed that he lured his friends, who were soldiers into the operation. He confessed that he and his friends didn’t take part in the kidnap and narrated how one of the kidnappers who was his customer got him involved in the deal and how he equally brought in his friends who were serving soldiers at that time.

Suspects’ confessions

Anthony, a native of Ndukwa East Local Government Area of Delta State, who is married with three children and has a Diploma in Computer Operations from America University, Adamawa State, said his customer, Mohammed, got him into trouble.

Anthony said; “I secured a job with an NGO based in Port-Harcourt Rivers State that organized poverty alleviation programmes for oil companies within the Niger Delta, after my diploma program and I was in charge of the NGO’s Computer Department and worked with them for four years, earning N50,000 monthly. I bought a car which I used for taxi to supplement my earnings. But in one of my trips, I met one Mohammed who said he was selling cows within Benin City. He requested for my phone number and said he would like to always engage me whenever he was in Benin City. “

“On October 1, 2016, he called me around 6:20am and asked me to come and pick him. Before then, I had been expecting one of my friends, a serving soldier of the Nigeria Army, Musa Maidabara, who was visiting me from Makurdi, Benue State. When I got to the point where Mohammed asked me to meet him, he then gave me a huge amount of money which I didn’t count, but I suspected the money was close to N2 million. I was scared because I saw another bag containing a large amount of money. I then went back home, and told my friend Maidabara and one of his friends, Edwin George, also a serving soldier what was happening. The three of us then went to meet Mohammed and one of his friends who also had a large sum of money with him. Maidabara asked Mohammed’s gang member to hand over his own money to Mohammed and link up with him later in his house. He accepted and we drove off. We took Mohammed and his money to Agbor where he said he wanted to buy some new clothes. While he stepped into the shop to buy the clothes, we drove off with his money. 

We went to my house in Ndukwa, shared the money, and we all got N6.5million each. The next day I took the sum of N2million out of the money and went to Onitsha where I bought a Honda End of Discussion for N1.5million. Then I used N200,000 to buy some home appliances which I needed urgently. I also invited one of my girlfriends to meet me in Benin City but while I was with her the police came and arrested me. I didn’t know that the money was a proceed from the kidnap of the wife of the CBN Governor.