Notorious Kidnapper & Confessed Robber, Emmanuel Nwangwu Freed By Lagos Court!

A lagos state high court has freed confessed kidnapper and robber- Emmanuel Nwangwu.

He was arrested earlier in the year, along with his wife, after years of detective work.

The police had been on his trail since 2008, when he kidnapped his employers ‘little girl’ and received a N20m ransom to free the victim.

He released the girl in Ghana- where he reportedly relocated.

He was arrested at a new place of work this year- he confessed he was on the lookout for another victim when he was caught.

He was charged to court – but in a strange twist in a society lesser crimes attract severe punishments, he has regained his freedom.

Speculations train the release- but specific details of the circumstances that helped Nwagwu work free is yet to be ascertained.

Here is the confession of the man freed by a Lagos Court.

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‘I admit I have done wrong and I have brought pain to many families but I want to live and pay for my crime. I heard several scarring stories about SARS but I never knew I was going to be brought here some day. I need a time in court to beg every family I have offended for forgiveness.”

Narrating his exploits, he stated: “Kidnapping wasn’t the only crime I committed. It all started in the year 2000 when I fled my home town in Opi, Nsukka Local Government of Enugu State to Lagos after stabbing my fiancee when she decided not to marry me.

“I got a job as a security guard in a company at Apapa and I worked less than one month before stealing over N750,000 from the company. I fled to Ghana with the money and bought a vehicle I used for taxi and I spent the rest. In 2005, I returned to Lagos when I felt the case may have died down. Since I am a good driver, I started looking for driving jobs. I applied through an employment agency and when they asked me to get a guarantor, I took the forms they gave me, bought two different colored pens and filled it with fake names, addresses and phone numbers.

“I would then go to a photo studio and ask the operator to get me samples of their passport photographs, and I would steal two from it and use them on the guarantor form. This was the trick I used in all the employment agencies and none of them bothered to verify.

The first job I got with it was at Jonbulls Ikoyi and I was driving the CEO of the company, but one day, we were going to his office and my boss said he wanted to visit a friend. The moment he went in, I took the sum N350,000 he had in the car and ran away to Ghana.

“I returned after some months and avoided Ikoyi where the office is situated. I got a new driving job the same way I got the other one in Victoria Island. I can’t really remember the name of the company or the owner of the money. There, I also took N600,000 and ran to Ghana. But in 2008, I came to Lagos again, used same method, got a new job as a driver at the home of the first family I kidnapped their daughter.

“My target was solely for money when I got there but all of a sudden, I discovered that I was going to spend so much time in that house before I would lay my hands on any money. So, I decided to kidnap their child. I also realized that this family is very rich and they love their little daughter so much.

“I took her to Ghana from where I demanded a ransom of only N20million. But the little girl’s father opted to pay N22 million. The moment I got this money, I ventured into extravagant spending. I bought a house in Ghana, bought over five exotic cars, and a truck. I started attending several social functions and people were hailing the way I was spending money. I also spent over N2m on orphanages and local primary schools in Ghana . The Deputy Nigeria Ambassador to Ghana, and other prominent Nigerians were also in attendance at the handing over ceremony of my donations.

“My extravagance soon attracted armed robbers to my home and later the police came in over illegal possession of fire arms. Then, I wasted all the money I got from the father of the girl and I became broke. I couldn’t live up to the standard of my social life. I sold off all my vehicles and my house in paying off debts.

“Then, I returned to Nigeria to hunt for more victims. But after two successful trips and one that almost got me into police net, I was apprehended with my wife. I am happy I have been arrested. Life on the run is never so interesting. If I don’t get killed one day, I might be a free man again and visit my family in the village.”

Here is a more detailed exploit of his victim and method of operation based on detective work

‘In 2009, two other families, Mr. Afam Edozie, a resident of Banana Island ended up paying N21m as ransom before their girl-child was released to him and one Mrs. Folusho Odegbaide, of Magodo area of the state who paid N2.5 m suffered the same fate.

In the case of Afam Edozie, there was an ugly twist to the kidnap saga after the Police in Ghana ended up releasing Nwangwu’s wife, Patricia, after she was arrested while trying to withdraw the N12m ransom they demanded. It learnt that after kidnapping Mr. Edozie’s daughter and demanding for a ransom, Nwangwu and his wife became apprehensive when they noticed that the Edozie’s contacted both the police at Interpol, Alagbon, Lagos and their Ghanaian counterparts.

Both security agencies perfected plans to arrest Nwangwu and his wife when they attempted to withdraw the ransom money and also rescue the kidnapped child. But the reverse was the case as the Ghanaian police took the ransom from Patricia who they intercepted after she withdrew the money from the bank and set her free without informing Mr. Edozie and the Nigeria Interpol who were waiting for good news.

Later on, Nwangwu placed a call to Mr. Edozie informing him of their losses to the Ghanaian police and then threatened that his child would be killed if he does not pay another N12m. Mr. Edozie was said to have pleaded that they should accept N9m which he later paid and his child was released to him.

It further gathered that news of the Ghanaian police shameful act infuriated the Ghanaian police high command which arrested and tried eight police officers who took part in the ransom theft and later dismissed them from the Ghana Police Service. The Ghanaian police didn’t stop at that in trying to redeem their image; they quickly declared Nwangwu and his wife, Patricia, the most wanted criminals in Ghana. Their pictures were published and announced in almost all the media outfits in that country.

However, before these steps were taken, Nwangwu and his wife ran away from Ghana before the authorities could lay hands on them. We learnt that the couple were smuggled into Ivory Coast where they spent some few nights before flying into Sierra -Leone where they spent a year and half before relocating to Benin Republic where they set up a new base.

From Benin Republic, the couple returned to Lagos again, using the same modus operandi. His wife secured a nanny job at one Mrs. Odegbaide’s home just as in the Edozie’s home. She worked barely for one month before disappearing with their little daughter. They took her to Benin Republic and then contacted Mrs. Odegbaide demanding N20m as ransom. She pleaded that she had no such money but begged that they accept N2.5m which she later paid before re-uniting with her daughter.’