By; PATRICK TITUS, Uyo
A 40-year old woman, Mrs Joy Emmanuel Sunday has confessed to the police in Akwa Ibom State that she plotted the kidnap of her husband because he refused to have sex with her for too long.
Joy, a mother of four children, made the confession when she was paraded by the police along with 29 other criminal suspects at police headquarters, Uyo on Friday.
It was gathered that based on her collaboration, the kidnappers kidnapped her husband and demanded for N10m as ransom and later reduced it to N2m which was paid before the police arrested them at the point of sharing the loot.
She also accused her husband of not caring for her and children, a situation she said, forced her into doing all sorts of menial jobs in order to fend for herself and the children since he got married to another woman.
She added that when one of her children completed secondary education, there was no money to send him for further studies.
She said, “I arranged for my husband’s kidnapping because for a long time, he abandoned me with his children. Even when my father and mother in-laws were alive, he abandoned me. He never cared for his children. I engaged in menial jobs such as weeding in people’s farms to feed his children and pay their school fees.
“One of the children, a boy, finished from secondary school and I approached my husband to plan how to send him to learn trade since the father refused to send him to university but my husband shunned me.
“The major reason I arranged for his kidnap is that my husband refused to have sex with me and does not take care of me and the children,” she revealed.
She disclosed that she never collected her share of the money (ransom) from the kidnappers before they were arrested by the police
“The kidnappers that collected the ransom of N2 million never gave me my share and I didn’t even see the money. It was when the kidnappers were sharing the N2m that the police arrested them and they mentioned me. They never gave me any part of the ransom collected from my husband.
“The kidnap kingpin (now at large) identified as Udo Moji assured me that he would collect the money from my husband for me since my husband refused to care of me and our children. So, I agreed with them though Udo Moji is now at large and they kidnapped my husband. I ran around to gather money to pay the kidnappers. The main suspect, Udo Moji ran away.
Narrating his ordeal in kidnappers den, her husband, Mr. Emmanuel Sampson Ebong who hails from Ntak Obio Akpa in Oruk Anam Local Government Area of the state, said, “I was kidnapped on July 21, 2022 in my compound few days after I came back from hospital where I was receiving treatment.
“It was around 8.30pm, I saw six people in my compound. They struggled with me and fired two gun shots into the air before they dragged me into a waited mini bus and drove away.
“They kept me from that Thursday, July 21 till Sunday 24th and demanded N10m from me and later reduced it to N2m before the police came that day. If not for God’s grace and quick intervention by the police, they would have killed me.
“They took me me to Etinan where they caged me. I thank the Nigeria Police for the rescue operations. I also thank my village head. I didn’t know the reason they kidnapped me, they collected N2m from me. The police later recovered over N500,000 from them.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner of Police in the state, CP Olatoye Durosinmi reiterated the commitment of his command to fish out criminal elements, stressing that no stone would be left unturned to ensure that residents live and go about their legitimate businesses free from harrasement and harm.
Our correspondent reports that the 29 other suspects paraded were caught for various offences including, kidnapping, robbery and child theft among others.
