The family of 84-year-old Chief Abbot Ogbobula have been thrown into mourning after the reported death news of the former lawmaker, who was abducted by a six-man gang of kidnappers on June 26, from his home at Ihuba village in Ahoada, Rivers State.
narrated what happened on the day of the abduction, the distraught daughter of the victim, Gift Ogbobula, said: “My father, Chief Abbot Ogbobula, was kidnapped about 9:30a.m. The gang blocked the gate of the house. One of the kidnappers shot the tyre of the car and also broke the windscreen and kidnapped my father. We immediately reported the abduction at Ahoada Police State.”
Having successfully escaped with the victim, they demanded a ransom of N20 million from the family. The relatives first sent the sum of N200,000 to the kidnappers.
In the course of interrogation of the suspects, one of them, Daniel ThankGod revealed information about what happened. On march 27, he took the police to the place where the octogenarian was buried at Degema creek. The decomposing body was exhumed and deposited at University of Port Harcourt Mortuary.
Gift thanked the officers and men of the police command and expressed confidence in police commissioner, who she said had demonstrated professionalism in handling the case.
In a brief chat with 9jabee at the headquarters of the command, where the arrested members of the gang are being held while investigation continues, one of the suspects, Daniel ThankGod said: “It was Chief Emenike Mathias who brought the job that we should kidnap Chief Abbot Ogbobula. He told us that he had a conflict with Chief Abbot Ogbobula over chieftaincy title. So we kidnapped him on March 26, 2020 and took him to our hideout in Degema creek.
“We demanded N20 million naira and the family of the victim brought N200,000 and the second time, they brought N500,000 and a member of our gang, Ndidi, killed the boy who brought the money. I was the one who fed Ogbobula with Semovita, Lucozade and tea. It was one of our gang members, Boma Thompson that bought the food items in the market. One of our members shot Abbot Ogbobula. He spent six days in our custody before he died.”
ThankGod who hails from Buguma Local Government Area, Rivers State added: “Chief Emenike Mathias refused to pay us for the job we did for him and would not take our calls. So we sent him a text message that we would tell the children of Chief Abbot Ogbobula that he was responsible for the kidnapping. That was when Emenike sent us recharge card, to beg for pardon.”
The police commissioner said that Emenike, Thompson and Goodness have been charged to court and remanded in prison while Daniel Thank-God would soon be charged to court after the conclusion of investigation.
