The alleged kidnapper, Chinaza Philip-Okoye, who was arrested in Abuja, has claimed that he’s a car robber and not a kidnapper.
Recall that the suspect was arrested by a combined team of FCT and Kaduna police officers in Kaduna last week when the police swooped in on him and his gang members, now at large, while they were taking an alleged kidnap victim, Segun Akinyemi from Abuja to Kano State.
Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, January 24, during a parade of criminal suspects at the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Police command, Chinaza, claimed he and his gang specialise in stealing cars and selling them in Kano.
First of all, I want to greet the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Bola Ahmed Tinubu,” he said
“Anything I say today, let it be recorded. I know some people will say I am lying. The only thing I am going to say is the truth and nothing but the truth,” he explained.
“Between God and man; the God that created Heaven and earth. I’m not a kidnapper. I haven’t kidnapped anybody,”
Probed further, he said; “we only patrol at night and collect cars, and we take them to Kano for sale,”
“That night, our aim was to rob the man and take his car, but I was surprised that after we collected his car, yellow, who is like our leader, asked the man to enter the back of the car. I didn’t know why he did that, and I couldn’t argue with him, so we were driving to Kano before the police caught up with us in Kaduna where I was arrested,”
Recall that the police were notified of Akinyemi’s abduction when the kidnappers drove through Rita Lori, Garki, Abuja, on Thursday night, so the FCT Police Command alerted all police formations in the FCT and neighbouring states of Kaduna, Nasarawa, Niger, and Kogi.
The FCT anti-kidnapping operatives chased them into Kaduna State before other gang members fled, and Chinaza Phillip-Okoye was shot at and apprehended by a team of FCT policemen and Kaduna State police officers, and the victim was rescued unhurt and his vehicle recovered.
The Force Public Relations Officer, ACP Olumuyiwa Adejobi, who paraded Chinaza on Saturday, said the gang ran out of luck as they were intercepted by police operatives at a filling station in Kaduna where three of them escaped, while one by them, Chinaza Philip-Okoye was arrested, and the victim rescued unhurt.
“In a proactive move, following a report on the abduction of a victim from his house along with his Hilux Van with Reg. No. RBC 90 DL Gray colour by four armed men who disguised in a white Mercedes Benz 230 car, Police Operatives in an intelligence-propelled investigation discovered that the victim was being taken to Kano State, but was dispossessed of his ATM cards at Kaduna while the sum of N500,000.00 was transferred from his account,” Adejobi stated.
“The suspects however ran out of luck as they were intercepted by Police operatives at a filling station in Kaduna where three of them escaped, while one by the name Chinaza Philip Okoye Michael was arrested, the victim rescued unhurt, and the said Hilux Van recovered
“It was discovered that Chinaza Philip Okoye Michael and his accomplices had earlier been arrested sometime in November 2023 and charged for similar offences, at the High Court, Kwali, Abuja, but went back to committing even worse crimes while on court bail.”
