Men of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response team led by CSP Abba Kyari have arrested 29-year-old Uzordima Chukwudi, along with his accomplices in connection with the kidnap of a woman in Imo State.
Chukwudi, arrested alongside other members of his gang including Joseph Chiaotu, aka Ejima, 21, Anozie Chinonso, 25 and 27-year-old Chukwuma Agim, who is a prison official said he took to kidnapping to pay his pregnant girlfriend’s bride price.
While speaking to journalists, Chukwudi, the Mechanical Engineering student of Federal Polytechnic Nekede, Imo state described the circumstances that led him into the shady illegal trade as unfortunate.
“My girlfriend is pregnant and I have been under pressure to pay her bride price but I had no money. She told me that since she became pregnant her mother had been ostracised by her fellow women in their village. The pressure was too much that I needed to look for money by all means.” He said.
Explaining how he met with other members of the gang, Chukwudi explained that he had consulted with two of his friend, one Nnamdi, who is now in prison and another Chiboy, who later introduced him to Agim for the trade.
Chukwudi whose job was to take food to the victims in the bush confessed his share of the money was N100,000.
He explained further that “Chiboy told me that he got only N1.1m from the woman but when we were arrested, the woman told us she paid N3m as ransom. The moment I got my own share, I gave my girlfriend part of it to start the preparation (for the wedding) while I went to the market to buy drinks. That was when I got a call from Agim and when I met him I was arrested.”