Chief Godwin Agbasimalo, the founder of Oga-Ndi-Oga Foundation and Solidarity Movement, testified in court about the involvement of Chukwudi Odimegwu and Maxwell Nwokolo in the kidnapping of Mr Obiora Agbasimalo, the Labour Party governorship candidate in the 2021 Anambra State governorship election.
The LP governorship candidate was taken on September 18, 2021, at Azia in the Ihiala Local Government Area of the state while returning from an event, and his whereabouts are still unknown.
Chukwudi Odimegwu and Maxwell Nwokolo, along with others, are facing trial for the alleged conspiracy and kidnapping of Agbasimalo. The charges were brought by the Department of State Services at an Awka Magistrate Court.
After being charged, the court ordered them to be held in prison custody without taking their plea.
The prosecution stated that their actions were against specific sections of the Criminal Code and the Criminal Code (Amended) Law of Anambra State.
While being remanded in prison, the Magistrate Court directed the police to transfer the case file to the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Upon receiving the case file, the DPP brought the same charges of conspiracy and kidnapping.
The DPP, N.J. Nwankwo, alleged that the accused persons kidnapped Agbasimalo and demanded a ransom from his family. Despite receiving the ransom, they failed to release him.
During the hearing, Chief Godwin Agbasimalo, the Seventh Prosecution Witness, testified that Maxwell Nwokolo collected substantial sums of money from him as part of the ransom to secure the release of the kidnapped LP candidate.
Agbasimalo, who is related to the kidnapped victim, recounted in court that Maxwell Nwokolo had collected ransom money, including a sum of N5 million, and had claimed to have escaped from the kidnappers' camp.
He stated, “The second defendant told us he had escaped from an unnamed camp where the kidnapped victim was held and that he came to my residence that fateful evening to confirm who was kidnapped between me and my cousin (Obiora).
The second defendant repeatedly asked for and received ransom money from me, including N5 million I gave to him in two payments of N2.5 million each. He told us he was constantly talking to the kidnappers and said the money was supposed to be given to them.
In addition to the money he took, he asked for four motorcycles to use on the rough path leading to the forest where the kidnappers were holding my cousin, in order to bring him out.
The second defendant, who also serves as the Coordinator of Oga Ndi Oga Solidarity Movement for Ekwusigo Local Government Area, had also visited the palace of his traditional ruler, along with four other supposed members of the alleged kidnapping gang, led by one of its commanders known as ‘Black Stone,’ and repeated everything he had told me.
He assured us in front of the traditional ruler that my cousin, who was kidnapped and is also the LP governorship candidate, would be released once the money reached the kidnappers. But despite all the ransom payments, the second defendant did not keep his promise to use his supposed close relationship with the kidnappers to get my cousin and the LP candidate released up to now.
He said that even after meeting the financial demands of the second defendant, who claimed to be in contact with the abductors, his cousin and the LP candidate have not been released up to now.
Before that, the witness had told the Presiding Judge that the First Defendant, Odimegwu, who worked as his assistant and driver, had acted suspiciously after taking N100,000 to fuel campaign buses for a journey by Oga Ndi Oga Solidarity Movement supporters and well-wishers, but switched off his phone and falsely told them that the journey had been cancelled.
He also revealed that after the attack and abduction of the victim, the First Defendant, who drove the kidnapped victim in the vehicle, did not contact him, but instead chose to inform his girlfriend, named Kosisochukwu, who then told others how the LP candidate was kidnapped by unknown gunmen after an attack on the convoy of the LP governorship candidate.
The PW7's testimony followed a warning from the presiding judge that she would withdraw from the case if both sides made any hint of a possible miscarriage of justice or tarnished her reputation.
After being in the witness box for over two hours, the prosecution witness was not questioned as the presiding judge, Justice Mbonu-Nwenyi, postponed the case until Friday, May 31, for further hearing.
