Ikenna Osuji, a student of the Federal Polytechnic, Nekede, Imo State, who was working as a taxi driver along to finance his studies, lost his life on May 25, 2016, in Port-Harcout, Rivers State, in the hands of kidnappers when he drove into a land where Chinedu Azuazu, 30, was a security guard, Punchng reports.
Ikenna was fairly known to Azuazu because he used to drive prospective land buyers to the large expanse of land guarded by Azuazu. After his arrest, on September 12, 2016, Azuazu, a father-of-one, said, “The man who employed us never paid us.
When my wife became pregnant and I needed money to prepare for our coming child, he refused to assist me. I saw my chance to make money when Ikenna came to our site. My colleague, Joshua, and I decided to kidnap him.
We took him deep into the forest. While we kept him there, we called his relatives with his phone and demanded a N5m ransom. While we were waiting on the family to pay us the ransom, Ikenna spent 14 days in our custody. On the 15th day, I left him in Joshua’s custody to go and buy some food. .
When I returned, I found him lying motionless on the ground. I asked Joshua what happened and he told me that when I was away, Ikenna attempted to escape and he almost overpowered him before he found a stick and hit him in the head.
I then called Ikenna's brother and he said he could only afford N120,000 and we collected it. We bought a bedsheet to wrap Ikenna’s body. We stuffed it in the boot of his car and took it to a farm where we dumped it. We later sold the car, a Nissan Primera, in Owerri, Imo State for N180,000. .
We shared the loot and I have not seen Joshua since then, I thought God had forgiven me. In July 2016, I went to a pastor and confessed what I did. He prayed for me and warned me against going back to crime. I have heeded his warning." Ikenna’s elder brother, Peter, however, said he paid N1.2m as ransom as against the N120,000 Azuazu admitted to.
