Oluchi Ugbowan, the 45-year-old woman arrested by the Edo State Police Command for allegedly faking her own kidnapping, has broken her silence. PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported that police apprehended her days after her family announced she had been abducted by kidnappers demanding a ransom of N50 million. Officers arrested Mrs Ugbowan along with three other suspects at a hotel in the Ikpoba Hills area of the state.
Police Parade Suspects
The command’s spokesperson, Eno Ikoedem, posted a video of Mrs Ugbowan and the others being paraded on her Facebook page on Tuesday. In the video, Mrs Ugbowan maintained that nobody kidnapped her and that she went into hiding voluntarily. She attributed her actions to the debts she owed several individuals in her area.
Mrs Ugbowan's Account
“I was not kidnapped, but I went into hiding. Two days later, I called him (Israel Ability) again. He said the matter had escalated and asked how much they (my family) had in hand. They said N3.5 million. I said, ‘Let’s manage it.’ They said they wanted to add to the money, but it was reduced to N20 million,” she explained.
“I told him (Ability) it was too much. If we had N5 million, we would be fine. I could pay off the debt because we had agreed on one week. We acted it out as a drama. So I approached these children (Ability and his younger brother). He came with his younger brother. I told them I wanted to stage a drama that would look like a kidnapping.”
Use of Weapons
Mrs Ugbowan disclosed that she suggested using a cutlass to threaten her in a video sent to her family. During discussions about tying her hands and legs, she discovered that Ability’s father had a gun and opted for it instead of the cutlass. “I told them to put the cutlass on my neck and said, ‘Say your last prayer.’ So when we were discussing it, the children said their father had a gun, but the father was not around. I asked if there were any bullets, but they said there were none. I said, ‘If you have a gun, go and bring it. It’s better.’
“So they went inside and brought the gun. I told them to put it on my neck and said, ‘Say your last prayer.’ It was inside the room that we acted it out. I was the one who tied my hands. My mindset was that if they saw stronger evidence, they would come up with a better negotiation,” she said.
Mrs Ugbowan admitted that she regretted her actions and felt bad about being caught by the police. “That was not my intention. It was the debt that was weighing heavily on me. They can ask people, even LAPO came to my place that day (the day I went missing), and that was what motivated me. I said, ‘Let me just do this and see how much I will get.’”
Israel Ability's Statement
Israel Ability, 28, disclosed that he agreed to Mrs Ugbowan going into hiding on 27 May after she spent several days begging him to participate in the kidnapping. He added that he was the one who bought the SIM card used, made the call, and handled several other related matters. “We had an agreement where she came to me and said if I could help her with some plans. She told me about the plans, and I said, ‘Okay, fine.’ After so much pressure and begging, I said, ‘Okay, no problem.’ Because, before that day, she had told me her plan to go and hide. And I said okay, no problem, fine, if that is the case. So I got the SIM card, and then she told me to go to a bar and wait for her so we could go to a hotel to start the call.
“She is very popular in Agbor. We took a bike, and the bike man took us to a nearby hotel. When we got there, she gave me money, and I paid the hotel fees. When we got there, we inserted the SIM card into her phone and used it to make the call. She said I should call her husband directly to ask for money. I just said 50 million, and that was what I requested from the man. I think it was a Thursday when the police caught me.”
Ability expressed regret, stating that he should not have got involved. “I just feel bad because I thought I was even trying to help her. I have landed myself in a big mess. We actually did not bargain. We did not bargain for anything, no percentage. But I wanted to help her, and surely I knew that something would come out of it for me,” he said.
Younger Brother's Involvement
Chinedu Chibuzor, Ability’s 18-year-old younger brother, maintained that he took part because he was told it was a church drama. “I do not know Madam Oluchi. I was the one who pointed a gun at her head and told her to say her last prayer. She said she wanted to perform a drama in the church. My father owned the gun.”
Father's Gun
Police also paraded Ability’s father, who confirmed that he owned the gun featured in the video sent to Mrs Ugbowan’s family. The 39-year-old revealed that his family had bought him the unlicensed gun to support his vigilante work. “It’s my gun. My family bought it for me, and it was not licensed. The video was recorded in my house. They are my children. I know Madam Oluchi through my wife.”
