One of the suspected kidnappers, who abducted Victoria, wife of Dr. Ona Ekhomu, has said that notorious kidnap kingpin, Kelvin, recruited and trained over 300 kidnappers scattered across the Niger Delta.
The suspect, who gave his name as Akpevwe Richard, said he only met Kelvin once when the latter was distributing money to people in Kokori, Delta State.
He was paraded at the headquarters of the 4 Brigade Nigerian Army.
Richard, whose nickname is 2-Mark, said the kidnap syndicate used nicknames during operations to avoid mistaken identity and concealed means of tracking them easily by security operatives.
He said his job was to drive his colleagues and drop them at locations after every operation.
Richard said Kelvin, now in detention, was called ‘General’ because of the money he distributed, adding that he operated with boys picked up from Edo, Bayelsa, Delta and River states.
He said: “I am 22 years old. I met Kelvin when I came from Bayelsa. I only met him once when he was sharing money. In the first kidnapping, I was given N90,000 and the next one I got N60,000. I was recruited by Rufus for Kelvin. A charm was given to me by Rufus, but I am surprised that the bullet hit me when a member of a vigilance group shot me. I’ve not followed them to an operation before.
“I was their driver. I didn’t know when they kidnapped the judge. I was doing menial jobs before joining the kidnap gang. They always keep victims at Kokori, sometimes in the bush and sometimes at home. “The villagers don’t know we are kidnappers. I was arrested at Overi-Okpe. Onus called me to come and carry them. They entered the car and dropped the arms and ammunition in the car. We were stopped by security personnel and when they asked us, Onus said he was going to see somebody, but when they searched the car, they found bullets and shot Onus. Other gang members retaliated and all of us ran into the bush. I heard gunshots inside the bush until a member of a vigilance group saw me and shot me. I want them to forgive me.
“Kelvin has many boys at Kokori. I have not been to Edo State before. Some people in Kokori know that we are kidnappers.”
Spokesperson for the 4 Brigade Nigeria Army, Cpt. Roselyn Managbe, listed the items recovered from Richard as one AK47 rifle, 266 rounds of 5.65 ammunition, 9fn magazines, one police fragmented jacket, 16 mobile phones, charms, a Prado sport utility vehicle belonging to Justice Daniel Okungbowa, one BMW car marked Lagos GC 484 EKY, among others.
Cpt. Managbe said 6,965 live cartridges, one barrel gun and a pistol were recovered from three persons, who deals in illegal arms trade while disguising as traders selling building materials.
She gave the names of the suspects as Ernest Egbaneyalobor, Osagie Igiemwen and Matthew Iyekekpolor.
Osagie said he only sell arms and ammunition to licensed hunters and that when he requested for operational licence, he was told that it was not available.
He said he surrendered to the security agents because he wanted to stop selling arms after being on the run.
Two persons, Barry Adiotonne and Saturday Ukpebor, who were arrested with a tanker loaded with 15,000 litres of illegally refined diesel, also attempted to bribe soldiers with N200,000.
Cpt. Managbe said the suspects would be handed over to the appropriate authorities for prosecution.
