When the kidnappers returned four years later, 87-year-old Adigo- Eseni was having a running battle with high blood pressure; he could not fight back and he was whisked away without his phone and drugs. If the kidnappers had known, they would have taken his drugs with them. But that failure to take his medication led to the old man’s death in the hands of his abductors.
Nelson, a suspect in the kidnap of the late Chief Benson Adigo-Eseni, uncle to former Governor Timipre Sylva of Bayelsa State, has been telling all he knows about the abduction and subsequent death of the victim. The octogenarian was kidnapped on Sunday, July 27, 2014, by armed gunmen who stormed his residence at Okpoama in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State. His remains were later found in a shallow grace in a community in the state.Family members were said to have expressed worry when other kidnapped victims after him, including the mother of Senator Emmanuel Paulker and brother of Bayelsa State Speaker were released.
Security sources alleged that the family refused to inform security agencies when they commenced negotiation with the kidnappers up till the time they paid the N5 million ransom.
Just days before the news of his death in the hands of kidnappers was broken to the family, one of his sons, Mr. Fabo, had expressed concern over the delay in releasing him.
According to him, they were worried that his abductors had not released him after they had fulfilled all the conditions given by them, including paying the ransom.
Investigations revealed that the kidnappers and the family settled for a middle-aged man to handle the negotiation between both parties until they arrived at the N5 million ransom. The issue was said to have split the family, as there was argument whether to inform the security agents or not. On the day the money was paid, there was an attempt by a family member to inform security agents but the negotiator was said to have frowned at the move and assured the family that once they paid the money, he would be released.
Unknown to the family, the octogenarian had died on August 14, 2014, shortly after eating.
A suspect, simply identified as Nelson, who was arrested in connection with the kidnap in an interview shed light on the execution of the operation.
“On July 16, 2014, I was called by a friend, named Ebi, while in Warri. He said he had a contract in his local government since he knew me as a boat driver. On July 27, I came over and we proceeded to Yenagoa and from there to Nembe. Inside the boat, I saw two big bags and I asked him the content; he said it was his working tools. While on the waterways, he was driving the boat but suddenly stopped and told me he was using me for a mission and that I should cooperate or else he would shoot me. I told him to drop me and he said there was no room for that and threatened to kill me.
“When we got to a certain community, he left a gunman with me while they went into the area. Some minutes later, I heard shouts and the gunman said I should start the boat’s engine. Then they brought in an old man into the boat and we zoomed off to an unknown location. We stayed there for a while and the following evening we left to another community where he bought food and returned to the place. It was then that Ebi seized my phone and told me to cooperate with him until we finished the job and I did.”
Nelson, who explained that the victim was sitting down when his health suddenly deteriorated, added that Ebi, the ring leader, was doing all the negotiation.
According to him, the victim’s death marked a turning point in the whole kidnap incident, as Ebi decided to go on to collect the ransom.
“After about 10 days there, he told me to follow him, as he wanted to make a call. He asked me if I could arrange someone, who could get him a Thuraya phone. I told him I knew someone at Robinson plaza, Warri, who could get him one. When I called, we arranged for him to get the Thuraya but he, Ebi, decided to arrange for another one. He was using my phone to make contacts and after a while, we relocated from where we were to a place opposite Kula community. We were there for two days and he was making a series of phone calls.
“One day, he told the old man that his family had refused to speak with him and had abandoned him. The man was confused but he was still able to talk. However, between August 14 and 15, he was sitting down after eating; then we heard shouts that the man was dying. Immediately we rushed there, the man was already dead.
“We told Ebi to take the corpse back to the family but he said he was afraid to do that. He said he would think of what to do. We told him to allow us go since the man was dead. In the evening, he told us that he had been able to negotiate something with the family and that we should wait. I told him that was not what we planned, as he told me he was taking me to drive people for a job and not this. He threatened he would kill any one who tried to leave.”
Continuing the narration Nelson said: “The next day, he said since he could not return the corpse to the family, he would bury it. There was an argument but he insisted that he would bury the corpse at a place in Kula. The next day he said he wanted to go and collect the money so as to flee the country. That very day, he got a boat and all of us drove to a location I don’t know. He left us and collected the money and in the evening between 7 and 8pm, he took us to another unknown place where he gave me N200, 000 and later N50, 000. He told me to go home, assuring he would handle the remaining issue. The following day, he dropped me in Port Harcourt from where I returned to Warri. I had wanted to contact my lawyer to report the incident but I was not able to do so before I was arrested.”Security operatives were able to trace one of the phones used in the transaction to Nelson in Warri. They gave very useful information and led a team of security operatives and officials of the Ministry of Health to where the kidnappers buried the deceased in a shallow grave at Kula, a border community between Rivers and Bayelsa States.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bayelsa State Command, Ahmed Bello, who confirmed the death of Chief Adigo and the arrest of the suspect, disclosed that the grave was discovered on Thursday, August 28, 2014.“On the August 28, 2014, acting on a tip-off, a combined team of security agencies in Bayelsa State and officers of the Bayelsa Ministry of Health were led to a border town between Rivers and Bayelsa state near Kula village, where a shallow grave was discovered. “The body of the late Chief Adigo Eseni, aged 87 years, who was earlier kidnapped on July 28, 2014, by unknown gun men, was exhumed from the shallow grave under the supervision of a senior pathologist from the Bayelsa State Ministry of Health. The corpse was removed and deposited at the Federal Medical Centre Mortuary, Yenagoa, for autopsy.”
Security operatives disclosed that six people participated in the kidnap operation but five of them are now at large.For now, grief has envelope the Adigo- Eseni family, as their hope of seeing their father alive again after the kidnap has vanished. The family members, who have already identified the corpse, were also said to have been present when an autopsy was conducted to ascertain the cause of death.
It was learnt that the family is cooperating with security operatives, who have launched a manhunt for the negotiator, who allegedly collected the N5 million ransom and paid the kidnappers.
Nelson believes the other members of the gang could have gone far from Niger Delta but security operatives are confident that they would soon be rounded up.\
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