Two kidnappers allegedly working for a yet to be identified person have been nabbed in Anumachogwu-Ugbugbu, a community in Owukpa district of Ogbadibo local Government Area of Benue state by men of the Benue state Police. DailyPost has been informed that the suspects are now cooling their heels at the Police CID in Makurdi, the state capital.
The suspects- identified as Sunday Ogbole , 23, and his accomplice from Delta state (name withheld), stormed the home of a popular business woman and mother of a top Engineer in the community, Mama Ogwa Agada penultimate Wednesday , broke into her room, and whisked her to the back of her house through the window. Apparently, because they had no vehicle to convey their victim to where they could possibly demand for ransom from his relatively rich Son, they attempted to slit her throat, and subsequently bury her.
Luck however ran out of them when Mama’s daughter-In-law returned from her husband’s village, Ugbugbu, only to be confronted by the ugly sight of her Mother-in-law’s gory experience in the hands of the kidnappers.
While narrating her experience in the hands of the kidnappers when she attempted to rescue her mother-in-law, the lady who pleaded that her name should not be mentioned in print said it was only by God’s intervention that Mama Ogwa escaped being killed. She said: “I went to Ugbugbu with my husband in the morning. My husband came to pick me up, since I have been staying with Mama.
‘’When I was done, I decided to return home. It was while I was approaching the house that I started hearing people talking about slitting mama’s throat. I stared at the direction very well, and I saw them with a knife.
‘’They actually held her neck, like a goat waiting to be slaughtered. I couldn’t control myself. I just couldn’t hold back for them to kill Mama, so I asked them from a distance why they wanted to kill her; on noticing that I had seen them, one of them left mama, and pushed me to the ground. He held me down while also instructing his colleague to quickly slit mama’s throat. I overpowered the one holding me down when the other one with mama started cutting her throat. While I was running and shouting, I was being chased by the criminals, but my shout attracted people who came to my rescue, and subsequently pursued the culprits into the forest.’’
When DailyPost contacted Agada Paulinus, son of the victim who has been lying critically ill with deep cuts on both her neck and head at the Federal Medical Centre, Makurdi, he said “those guys wanted to kill my mum. At the moment, mother cannot speak. She has a deep cut on her neck as well as her head.’’
Ask whether he has any idea about the exact motive of the suspects, he said ‘’ I was told that one of them has confessed to the Police that they were on a mission to kidnap my mother. If actually they wanted to kidnap her, then why did they want to kill her even in the house?, he questioned, saying the Police will come out with a reliable finding on the incident. Agada further disclosed that one of the kidnappers was a relative who had not returned to the village for nearly 15 years.
A family source told DailyPost that there are two versions to the confession of the criminals. The source said while one of the criminals said they were on a mission to cut off the victims head for ritual purpose, the other version said they were to kill her and demand for ransom from the son who is believed to be a rich business man and an Engineer.
Another family source told DailyPost that an aged-long family dispute could be responsible for the attack on the old woman, as the boy had in one his confessionary statements said that the spirit of his father actually pushed him into the act. According to the source, ‘’ He said his late father has been troubling him in his dream to kill mama. It could be because mama has been in charge of all palm trees owned by his late father. But the truth is that she had helped the family so much, not to be paid back in this manner. Mama was given those palm trees because of all she did for the family. She single handedly sponsored the burial of the boy’s father and even his elder brother. So if he had any issues, he should have called for a meeting. To have said that his father spirit is troubling him is a fable that should be told to the ‘Orufia’ bird,’’ he said.
Another family source who told DailyPost that the suspects will rot in jail, said the family believes that the suspects were sent by some faceless people to carry out the attack on mama, disputing the story that they wanted to kidnap her. He said, “We will not rest until we get detailed information on those they are working for.’’
Though, DailyPost could not reliably get the name of the second boy who is said to be an indigene of Delta state, it’s believed that both of them met in Enugu state where Sunday had lived for 15 years. We gathered that they stormed the village five days before they carried out the distasteful act. A source said “they were even sleeping in a primary school at Aho. When they escaped into the bush after the act, youths of the community pursued them. One of them was caught around Ubafu, while the second was nabbed inside the Efikeri forest.
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