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A commercial motorcycle rider, Kelvin Ogaga, has confessed to kidnapping a three-year-old girl entrusted to his care.
He said mounting debts and financial hardship drove him to commit the crime.
Ogaga, recently paraded by the Delta State Police Command, admitted he had been taking the child from her home to school for about three weeks before allegedly abducting her with the help of his girlfriend and other accomplices.
“I was the one taking the child to school. A friend suggested that I kidnap the child so we could collect money from the parents,” the suspect said.
He alleged that his friend, identified simply as “Omo,” made the initial ransom calls to the family, demanding N4 million and threatening to kill the child if the incident was reported to the police.
The suspect further admitted that the family eventually paid N500,000 to secure the child’s release and that part of the money was used to offset his debts.
Ogaga also claimed that his girlfriend was aware of and participated in planning the abduction, adding that he had known his accomplice, “Omo,” for about a year.
The Police Public Relations Officer, SP Bright Edafe, said the child was rescued safely and that part of the ransom had been recovered.
He said Ogaga had been hired by the child’s parents to convey the girl between home and school for a monthly fee of ₦10,000 and had performed the task for about three weeks before allegedly abducting her.
He said the suspect and his accomplices used a different phone line to contact the family, claiming the girl had been kidnapped and demanding a N4 million ransom while warning the parents not to report the matter to the police.
He said the family eventually paid N500,000 to secure the child’s release, after which the command launched an investigation, deploying intelligence and technical resources that led to the suspect’s arrest in connection with the incident.
Edafe said efforts were ongoing to arrest other suspects linked to the kidnapping, which occurred in Ughelli about three weeks ago. (The Nation)
