A
suspected assassin has confessed to the police that he and his gang was
paid to kill the Deputy General Manager of Ecobank in Enugu State,
Ogbonne Ogeri Nnachi Ibiam.
Obinna
Onyekulujie, the 43-year old suspect, also known as Obaino refused to
disclose the name of the person who contracted his gang to kill Ibiam
but confessed to the police that he was a member of the Enugu-based
robbery gang.
According to police sources at the Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad,
FSARS, in Lagos, southwest Nigeria, the suspect claimed he received N1.5
million out of the N15 million paid to his five-man gang to assassinate
the bank manager.
The suspect
also admitted that he carried out the crime with members of his gang
Ogechukwu Uzor, a.k.a. Don Whisky, now detained at the Enugu State
Police Command SARS Office for other robbery incidents, as well as
another suspect, Emmanuel Nwankwo, a.k.a. Nwonovo, Chidi and OG, now at
large.
Weapons
recovered from the house of the suspect include one cut-to-size double
barrel gun, one English barretta pistol, four brownie pistols, 18 live
cartridges and 13 rounds of AK- 47 ammunition.
Police said the suspect was arrested following a written petition from
the wife of the late bank manager (name withheld) to the
Inspector-General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar.
The wife of
the victim was not satisfied with the investigation of the murder of her
late husband by the Enugu State Police Command and that the murder be
investigated by another police formation outside Enugu State for her to
get justice.
Following the approval of the petition by the IGP, the Commissioner of
Police, FSARS Lagos, CP Mohammed Gana, was directed to send his men to
the Enugu State Police Command to bring the case file of the murder and
the arrested suspects to Lagos.
In his
confessional statement to the police, Obinna allegedly wrote: “I am a
member of a five-man gang that specialised in snatching exotic cars from
their owners in Enugu and reselling them to buyers in Onitsha and Nnewi
in Anambra State.
On 12 December, 2012, my partners in crime and gang leader Ogechukwu
Uzor, Nwankwo Emmanuel and others now at large contacted me that they
have a job to do and as the gang’s driver, I obeyed them and drove them
to the place of operation.
We traced our
target on 14 December, 2012 to the Liberty Estate Road in Enugu State
and Ogechukwu Uzor shot severally at a man inside a Camry car and we
collected two phones in the car.
We drove off after we confirmed that he was dead. After the operation,
Emmanuel gave me N1.5m with the stolen handsets and I gave one to my
girlfriend. Emmanuel later told me that someone paid them N15 million to
do the job.
I don’t know the person that paid the money. It is only Emmanuel Nwankwo that can identify the sponsor, if arrested. I
was arrested by the police through my girlfriend with the stolen phone.
We have also, prior to the operation, invaded Global filling station
and Jezco Oil & Gas on Amaechi Road Enugu to rob and I used my share
from the operation to build a house in my village.”
After
investigation by Inspector Oluwamimo Banjoko and his team , Obinna was
taken back to Enugu State and arraigned before the Enugu Magistrates’
Court on an eight-count charge of felony, to wit, armed robbery, murder
and unlawful possession of firearms.
The offences,
the prosecutor, ASP Emmanuel Akpa, said contravened sections 6(b) 1(2)
(a) of the Robbery and Firearms (special provisions), Laws of the
Federation of Nigeria, 2004 and sections 324 and 319 of the Criminal
Code of Enugu State of Nigeria.
The plea of
the accused was not taken because the lower court lacks jurisdiction to
try the matter. The presiding magistrate, J. Mbe ordered that the
accused be remanded in prison custody pending the advice from the office
of the Directorate of Public Prosecution (DPP) on the matter.
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