The real story behind the brutal kidnap and murder of
the 35-year-old Christie Agbulu, a lecturer in the
Department of Biological Sciences, Federal University of
Agriculture, Makurdi, Benue State has been revealed. It
was gathered that the heartless kidnappers killed her
after collecting ransom.
The family of the deceased had for one month waited
endlessly with hope that she would be released safely
after she was kidnapped in the evening of November 26,
2016.
After the suspect was arrested, he gave police insight
into the nightmarish manner how the woman was
traced, kidnapped before she was murdered. He also
gave the location of where the deceased’s body was
found.
It was gathered that the day of her kidnap, Agbulu had
just alighted from a bus around 7pm, when an okada
rider accosted her, asking where she was going.
She then told him the address that a friend, Levi
Shemba, whom she was visiting had given her,
indicating that she did not know the place.
The okada rider, who turned out to be one of the
members of the syndicate who targeted people who are
new to the city, told her to jump on.
“Unknown to her, the okada rider took her to a different
location. It was through our investigation that we learnt
that the syndicate had been operating as okada riders
for a while,” the Public Relations Officer, Kogi State
Police Command, Mr. Ovye Williams, said.
The okada rider was said to have taken Agbulu to a
forest and demanded a ransom of N150,000, directing
the family to pay it in the victim’s bank account. The
family then paid N100,000 which her captors later
withdrew with her ATM card.
“When we got a report of the kidnap, we entered the
bush. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abdullahi Chafe,
mobilised different units to comb the area. While we
were doing that, we were tracking the phone number
they were using to communicate with the family.”
For about a month after Agbulu’s kidnap, the police
investigation got no breakthrough as the kidnappers
changed location frequently in the forest to avoid being
pinpointed.
The kidnappers kept changing location in the forest
making it difficult for the police to capture them.
“We tracked the line and eventually located the suspect
using it. When he was arrested by the Special Anti-
Robbery Squad and identified as the gang leader, he
then took our men to two other members of the gang."
The suspects identified as Nuhu Musa (29), Caleb
Moses (28) and Sanusi Jibrin (33) executed the
dastardly act.
“The suspects confirmed that they belonged to the
syndicate that kidnapped people in Lokoja. Anytime a
stranger came to the town and did not know the
location, they pretended to be okada riders looking for
passengers.
“They then led the SARS operatives to where the body
of the lecturer was found in a shallow grave along the
Lokoja-Abuja Expressway. When the police got there,
they realised it had decomposed."
According to a report by Punch, during investigations,
the suspects reportedly confessed to have kidnapped a
second victim, Grace Ene Onaivi, an Edo State indigene
and 300 Level student of the Benue State University.
Onaivi was declared missing on December 23, 2016 by
her family members after they could not reach her.
The suspects told the police that they had kidnapped
Onaivi exactly the same way Agbulu was abducted with
a commercial motorcycle. They also dumped Onaivi’s
body in the area where Agbulu’s body was found few
days prior.
It is still unclear in what way the victims were killed.
Williams told our correspondent that an autopsy would
be conducted on the bodies to determine the cause of
death.
The incidents have prompted the police in Kogi State to
start a frantic effort to screen okada riders in the state.
The police spokesperson said the command was liaising
with the state government to make a customised hat
for all the okada riders in the state.
Williams said, “We are also working on a centralised
data through which we can trace any of the commercial
motorcyclists in the state at any point in time.
“We are also embarking on an awareness campaign that
anyone expecting a first-time visitor from outside the
state, should ensure the visitor remains in the motor
park and pick them there instead.
“We are also informing the people that they should not
ever board an okada that has no plate number while
okada riders who have not registered should do so
immediately. In case of any incident, we would know
how to trace them.”
He said investigation was still ongoing on the case as
the suspects were cooperating.
