Juliet Uduji
A Kaduna-based father, Mr. Eguaku Anya, has narrated how kidnappers abducted his 15-year-old son, Stephen, killed him and dumped the body inside a shallow well, after receiving N1.5 million ransom from him.
But the prime suspect in the crime, one Joseph Sylvester, who was among the 217 kidnappers and other criminal suspects paraded by the Kaduna state Police Command Wednesday, denied involvement in the acts.
Anya told journalists, yesterday, Wednesday July 22, that the kidnappers broke into his house destroying valuable properties and took away their phones, laptop computer while abducting his 15-year-old son.
He said the kidnappers initially demanded for N40 million before they finally agreed on N1 million.
Narrating his ordeal, he said:
“On the 27th of May, 2020, this boy (Sylvester) and the other person came into my house and damaged a lot of things. They took away our phones, my laptop, my daughter’s phone and in addition, they abducted my own son in my car and left.
“They were two that came into the house. They even said they will drop my son immediately they leave the house, as I was pleading with them. One of them lives in my area at Gonin Gora. My son was 15 years. My son scored 245 in JAMB he passed WAEC and NECO, only for him to enter school.
“They (kidnappers) stayed for a long time before contacting us and when they collected ransom, they switched off the phone. When they finished the money, they called back and began to demand for another money.
“The first amount they demand was N40 million. So as we negotiated we brought it down to N5 million and again it came down to N1 million. They collected that and said it’s not enough, so we added N500, 000. And all this while, we have been begging them to let us hear the boy’s voice, but as soon as they collected money, they switched off the phone.
“Eventually, they demanded for another N1.5 million and we agreed that we will rally round and get it for them, but on the condition that we hear the boy’s voice and they release him to us, not knowing that they had killed the boy already the following day after the kidnap.
“It was only God that saved me and my brother that went to give them the money; they could as well have killed or abducted us. That was when we went and alerted the anti-kidnapping unit and FCID. This unit worked so hard and it’s very commendable. I have never seen such swift action before. Within three days, they rounded them up.
“Meanwhile, as events were unfolding, I remembered that this boy (Sylvester) used to sit around my house. I will come out and see a boy alone. I never knew the boy was monitoring me, he knows where my dogs are, the time I put on and put off my generating set. He called the other person to accompany him in killing my son.
“They killed him and dumped him in a well-that is the most gruesome way of killing person. Not only that he was killed but in a gruesome way. The effect of that still attacks me every time when I think about what my son could be thinking before he was killed. It is terrible.”
However, while responding to questions from journalists, the prime suspect, Sylvester denied being involved in the crime. “I don’t know anything about the kidnapping. I only kept someone (his accomplice) in my house not knowing he is a kidnapper.
“I stay in Gonin Gora and my residence is close to a company he (the accomplice) said he came to work. He said that he was looking for room and all the apartments in my house were occupied. We searched another place for him to stay and we couldn’t get, that was how he started staying with me. He gave me N7, 000 and stayed with me for three weeks after that, he travelled back for almost up to a year,” he said.
Speaking on the case, the command’s spokesman, ASP Muhammad Jalige said the suspects after killing their victim, dumped his body in a shallow well and threw about 20 building blocks on top of him to weigh his corpse down and prevent it from floating, the ASP disclosed.