Kidnappers of the member representing Onitsha-North 1 constituency in the Anambra State House of Assembly, Hon Justice Azuka have confessed to killing the legislator.
When they were paraded at the Anambra State police command, Amawbia yesterday, they narrated how they kidnapped the lawmaker on December 24, and later killed him the same night.
They, however, said that they initially demanded N20 million ransom from him, but denied that they didn’t collect any money before killing him.
Though one of the nine suspects who were paraded, 30-year-old Ugochukwu, from Abia State claimed that they beat the lawmaker to death, his co-gang members insisted that he was the one who fired the bullet that killed him.
Outgoing State commissioner of police, CP Nnaghe Itam told newsmen that it was a joint security team made up the command’s Rapid Response Squad (RRS), anti-kidnapping squad and Anambra State Vigilante Group (AVG) that stormed the hideout of the kidnappers and arrested them.
He said that some firearms were also recovered from the suspects.
He said that the joint security team recovered the decomposing body of Hon Azuka in a bush somewhere at the Second Niger Bridge in the early hours of Thursday.
CP Itam, however, said that the result of the autopsy on the deceased lawmaker would confirm the actual cause of his death.
The criminals named one Ugo Ekenewo resident at “Idemili” as their sponsor saying that their reason for abducting Hon. Azuka was to make money.
Meanwhile, a member of another seven-member kidnap gang paraded along with the lawmaker’s kidnappers, one Peter Sunday who has a tattoo “No Peace for Government” on his chest said he did the tattoo in protest against the killing of his mother by the military who invaded his community on a revenge mission.
He said that he hails from the Iyala area of Cross River State adding that he did the tattoo after some soldiers invaded his Iyala area on a revenge mission and during the operation they killed his mother.
He, however, said that he came to Anambra and joined the kidnap gang because he was looking for money.
He pleaded to be pardoned promising that he would erase the tattoo.
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