A man who was enraged by his uncle's alleged close-fistedness, has taken a drastic step to forcefully extort money from him.
Chima John
One Chima John, 37, was on Tuesday paraded at the Oyo State Police Command for allegedly kidnapping his 13-year-old niece.
John, who has been in the custody of the police, confessed before journalists that he abducted his niece, Ijeoma, to get to his uncle whom he described as stingy.
According to him, “I sent someone to my uncle’s shop to get some items and instructed the person to tell my niece to come to the car in which I was to get the money for the items.
“On sighting me, I told her to come into the car and we forced her in.
“I took the girl just to revenge for what my uncle did to us. He breached a contract and he is very stingy.
“We had a little quarrel in the past on trading business. I did it just to get money from him and I requested for N2.5 million,” the suspect added.
When asked if the ransom was eventually paid, John said he was on his way to retrieving it as agreed when the police apprehended him.
Confirming his claims, the victim’s father, Ogbonnaya Okoro, said his nephew (John) kidnapped Ijeoma and then called him to demand N2.5 million for her safe return.
On her part, Ijeoma recalled how she was abducted.
“On that fateful day, a boy came to our shop begging me to sell some items to him. He eventually bought five ‘congos’ (measures) of rice with a bottle of groundnut oil.
“When I got to the car, I saw my ‘brother’ (John) and he beckoned on me to enter the car. I refused to enter the car but I was forced into the car.
I was taken to a bush and kept in one house and I was beaten. He thereafter called my daddy and demanded N2.5 million.”
Ijeoma added that her abductor asked her to lie to her father (over the phone) that she was taken to a very dangerous place and that if he didn’t pay the money, she would be killed.
The CP, while parading the suspect, urged the general public to be security conscious and wary of the sensitive and personal information they divulge to close relatives and staff.