of G.U.O. Motors Limited, Chief Godwin Okeke, on Monday
commenced his evidence-in-chief at an Onitsha High Court in
Anambra State, presided over by Justice Chudi Nwankwo, in
respect of his abduction by kidnappers in Onitsha on Sunday,
August 23, 2009.
Chief Okeke who spoke under oath, shortly after the court
granted a motion to file and serve additional prove of
evidence with respect to one of the suspected kidnappers,
Alexander Onyinanya, his employee, filed by the prosecution
counsel, Chris Ajugwe with Mrs. N. D. Wilcox.
Below is what Chief Okeke said about his kidnap after Church
on a Sunday morning...
How he was abducted
Led in the evidence by his counsel, Okeke, according to a
Vanguard report, stated that he went for 7 a.m. service which
ended at about 10 a.m, adding that between 10.30 and 11
a.m., his wife mounted the steering of his Nissan Amanda
Spots Utility Van, SUV, and was driving towards the church
gate when suddenly, gunmen blocked the car with a bus in
front and a Mercedes Benz car at the rear.
Okeke told the court that before he could ask questions, the
gunmen started shooting sporadically, adding that even though
he managed to disarm one or two of them, they shattered his
left leg, over-powered him, drove away his wife and family
members before bundling him into his SUV and zoomed off
with the abductors' vehicles following.
He further told the court that they passed through Awka Road
and at Limca Road, they met a traffic gridlock but his
abductors shot sporadically into the air to scare the commuters
before they continued their movement up to Nkpor junction
where he said they met some policemen and exchanged fire
with them.
Two vehicles snatched
He said: "At Umuoji Road, my abductors discovered that
their tyres were deflated during the exchange of fire with the
policemen and they quickly jumped out of the vehicles,
blocked the road, snatched two other vehicles from their
unsuspecting owners and transferred their arms and
ammunition, including 9 AK 47 riffles, rocket launchers,
machine guns and a big Ghana-must-go bag filled with loaded
magazines and live cartridges into the snatched vehicles.
"They continued their journey and drove through Alor, Adazi-
Ani and Adazi-Enu. On getting to somewhere between Adazi-
Enu and Neni communities in Anaocha Local Government
Area of the state, they drove into a bungalow, rounded up the
occupants, who were mainly children, locked them up in one
of the rooms and kept me inside the living room.
"I removed my shirt and tied my bleeding leg as part of
measures to control the blood gushing out from the bullet
wound. At a stage, I became thirsty and requested them to
give me water to drink. Two of the abductors, Emeka Eze and
Anthony Ifeanyi Okafor were with me while others were
outside monitoring movements."
He said the duo with him advised him not to drink water
because of his bullet wound but he insisted on drinking and
eventually they gave him the water which he drank.
He said: "I overheard those outside asking the detained
children where they kept oil, salt and other condiments
because at that point, they had started cooking breadfruit meal
for lunch.
The third accused was my ex-employee
He said after cooking, they presented the food and he ate with
them. He said among those outside, two of them, a tall and
short one wore masks, adding that he could discover that the
tall one, Alexander Onyinanya, the third accused with mask
was his former employee.
"I could identify Onyinanya because he limps as a result of an
accident he had when he was working for me. I was the one
who paid his hospital bill when he had the accident.
I offered them N1bn, instead of N100m
"After eating the breadfruit meal, they praised me for my
courage and for accepting their food, unlike other victims who
usually refuse to eat during their captivity."
He said they now asked him to get ready for negotiation to
which he paid attention.
"They told me that Chief Paul Okonkwor, Managing Director
of Pokobros Group West Africa Limited paid them N70
million as ransom when they kidnapped him, while Chief
Anthony Enukeme, Managing Director of Tonimas Oil
Limited paid them N80 million during his own time and told
me to pay them N100 million.
"I replied them promptly that Okonkwor and Enukeme are
millionaires, while I am a billionaire, and offered them N1
billion, instead of N100 million.
"The offer gave them special joy as they now dropped their
weapons by the side, relaxed and asked me how and when the
money would get to them to which I told them that the money
was in the bank."
At this stage, Justice Nwankwo ordered him to stop for the
day till the next adjourned date.
The court now adjourned the matter to November 14, 26, 27,
28, December 2, 3, 4, 5 and 9, this year for accelerated
hearing and possible dispensation.
No comments:
Post a Comment