ABUJA — The Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Command of the Department of State Services, DSS, has arrested four suspected kidnappers over the abduction and murder of a woman at Gwagwalada area in the territory.

Briefing newsmen on the arrest, Tuesday, Mr Ibrahim Halilu, Assistant Director in charge of Operations at the command, named the victim as Mrs Edith Chunedu.

Halilu said the late Chinedu, a proprietress of Chelson Group of Schools and Chief Executive Officer of Grants Micro Finance Bank, was kidnapped at her residence in Gwagwalada on June 29.

“They (suspects) murdered and buried her in a bush after Yangoji village along Kwali-Lokoja expressway, two hours later for recognising one of them,” he said.

Halilu said the suspects admitted that they committed the crime and had agreed to lead operatives of the command to where they buried the woman for the corpse to be exhumed.

He added that one of the arrested suspects was the driver to the deceased who masterminded the kidnap and murder of his employer.

“On June 30, 2014, the kidnappers contacted her relations and demanded N5 million for her release.

“On July 6, 2014, the sum of N2 million converted to $11,500 was dropped for the kidnappers around Obajana Road, Lokoja, Kogi, by the relations without informing the service.

“Consequently, the service initiated measures which led to the arrest of the four kidnappers,” he said.

In an interview with newsmen, one of the suspects admitted that they kidnapped the woman, but did not have intention of killing her.

He said other suspects and another at large were yet to get their share before they were arrested.

On his part, the driver of the deceased said he was lured into kidnapping her employer by the other suspects.

Fielding questions form journalists, the suspects who confessed to kidnapping the victim, said she was killed by one Douglas who they referred to as Douggy, now at large.

Suspects’ accounts of their involvement

Maxwel Ajukwu – UNN graduate

Forty-one-year old Maxwel Ajukwu, who graduated from the Department of Economics at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka confessed to the kidnapping and murder of the victim.

According to him, “we kidnapped her, but we never had intention of killing, because the driver said we should kidnap her. She slumped on the way to where we were taking her. The driver said since she had seen our faces, it was better we kill her.

“The person who killed her, Douglas, is not here. We dug the grave, I and Solomon. Douglas is at large, we are looking for him.

“She recognised me, she did not know me very well. The driver took me to her house two days before the event. He took me there as a spy to know the environment.”

Ajukwu said before the abduction, he worked as a private teacher in Gwagwalada. He said it was Sunday Jacob that initiated the plan and funded the kidnap.

Sunday Jacob

—Financier of the kidnap

Sunday Jacob, 32, also confessed to funding the kidnap but denied knowledge of the victim’s death, saying he only learnt of it after he was arrested by the DSS.

Jacob also said it was the driver, Ali, who told them his madam had money and suggested they could kidnap her.

Jacob, who said he owns a tailoring business in Gwagwalada, admitted to contacting Maxwel Ajukwu to carry out the job of kidnapping Mrs. Chinedu.

Solomon Amodu—400-level Uniabuja student

Solomon Amodu, 32, a 400-level student of Geography at the University of Abuja, confessed to have participated in the killing of their victim.

Amodu admitted driving the get-away car after the kidnapping, saying: “When we picked the woman, as we were going, we removed our masks around a check-point and the woman recognised Maxwell as the man her driver brought to her house.

“She slumped as she saw Maxwell’s face and iin the process they asked me to look for an un-tarred road and park.

“It was there Douggy asked me to tie her hand and he strangled her. That was how she died.”

Ali Angba, the driver

However, the victim’s driver, 27-year-old Ali Angba who admitted to being the inside man in the kidnapping saga, denied giving the go ahead for the murder of his madam.

He admitted receiving only N199,000 from the ransom they received after the death of his madam.

Ajukwu also admitted receiving N500,000 and gave N500,000 to the elusive Douglas while Amodu received nothing.

We paid N5m ransom

—Victim’s relation

A relation of the victim, who does not want her name in print, told reporters that the relations paid a total of N5 million in two batches to the kidnappers.

She said they decided to involve security agents when the kidnappers refused the family’s request to hear the victim’s voice over telephone as proof of her being alive.