Kidnappers kill victim, Onwuachi Esq., during N30m ransom negotiation

A gang of kidnappers identified as Fulani herdsmen, killed their victim, F.O. Onwuachi Esq., while negotiation of N30 million ransom was ongoing. The kidnapped victim, a member of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), Otuocha Branch, Anambra State, F. A. Onwuachi Esq., was said to have been kidnapped along Ezu River/Anaku road in Ayamelum Local Government Area, Anambra State, on Friday, March 12 at about 7.30pm.

The kidnappers had demanded N30 million ransom, but the family struck a deal for N10 million which the kidnappers were said to have accepted. The bubble bust when the family demanded to hear the voice of the victim, Onwuachi, before making the payment. The kidnappers went silent; it was then discovered that the kidnapped victim had been killed before the negotiations for ransom commenced. The family later found the body of the deceased in the bush.

A family source was cited to have narrated: “They demanded money and when they demanded money, those monies were not on ground. The community had to call their sons and they rallied round for the money and the kidnappers contacted the family. The family wanted to hear from their son that day we had the apprehension that something wrong had happened to him.

“They said we should give them 30 minutes and they switched off their phone. They did not call back again. It was one of the people kidnapped that told us that while we were calling, they had shot him to death.

“They demanded N30 million in the first place and at the end of the day we said we had N10 million.”

The source disclosed the body of the deceased was discovered in a forest, in Nando, Anambra East Local Government.

“They were herdsmen that did that because the person gave us the information who now led us to place was among the kidnapped people. He said they were all Fulani with highly sophisticated weapons,” the source had declared.

NBA members in Otuocha Branchm threatened to boycott all court activities in Anambra State last Wednesday in protest of the kidnap and killing of a member of the association.