A 33-year-old kidnap suspect, Ugochukwu Mbah, arrested by the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response team, led by CSP Abba Kyari, says his friend pushed him into taking part in the last kidnap operation before his arrest.

Mbah, alongside four other suspects, Udochukwu Nwanguma, 37, Kenneth Levi, 32, Onyema Uzodinma, 31 and Nduka Nwankwo, 25, confessed to a series of kidnapping within Imo and Abia states.

The suspects were on Friday paraded before journalists at police headquarters in Imo State.

Meanwhile, items recovered from the suspects’ hideout in Umuakpala village in Abia State, include two AK 47 rifles, two magazines, one Beretta pistol, one pump action gun and 52 rounds of live ammunition.

CSP Kyari said efforts were still on to nab the remaining members of the group who were on the run.

Mbah who hails from Mbaise in Imo State, said if he had not ignored his conscience, he would have quit kidnapping before his arrest.

He blamed his involvement in the act on poverty and frustration, saying though his previous ventures yielded no result, he had to take part in kidnapping on his friend’s suggestion.

The father of one said, “As the only son of my father who had three wives and 15 children, I faced many family problems.”

He said he was forced to travel to Angola in 2012 in search of greener pastures after which he was deported.

“They said that I do not have up to N1m in my account. They said if I did not have enough money that I was likely going to commit crime. It was the Igbo community that conspired against me. I genuinely wanted to do business there but they refused. Back in Nigeria, I was broke and since all my efforts to live a good life were frustrated, I decided to survive by any possible means.

“The only person who gave me accommodation when I came back home was Richard (now in prison) and he was the one who brought me to Owerri. He told me what he was doing for a living and the need to return to Owerri for full time kidnapping. He introduced me to Nduka as a capable hand. I assisted them to raise money to buy enough equipment (guns) needed for the job.

“I have sold some stolen cars, after which, I ventured into kidnapping operations.

“My first job was the kidnapping of a female teacher who was driving a Toyota Highlander. We were able to collect N17,000 from her, then I drove the car to Abia state where I sold it at N300,000.”

Mbah said the woman’s husband was a pensioner, who could not pay the ransom because he had not been paid by the state government.

On his last operation before his arrest, Mbah said he and his syndicate made N1m from a Nigerian victim based in South Africa.

“On January 7, 2016 when we were patrolling MCC Road, close to Toronto roundabout in Owerri, we spotted the man driving an exotic car. We kidnapped him. After many days of negotiation, his family paid the ransom of N1m.”

On what led to his arrest, Mbah recalled that a phone call from Richard was the beginning of his doom. He said Richard had called to inform him of an operation but he refused to pick the call because he was praying.

“I realised that God allowed Richard to call while I was praying with my family. I am destined to be a pastor; it’s just that I have not accepted my calling.

“Kidnapping was just a temporary job for me. Now, I preach to my co-inmates. Some of them have even given their lives to Christ,” Mbah confessed, adding that he took to being a pastor while in police net.

One of the suspects, Nwankwo said he used to sell second-hand clothes in Aba before he was introduced to the kidnapping trade.

He also explained that he told his initiators he was ready to do anything to make money and save himself from poverty.

“After we kidnapped the South Africa-based man, I was just living my life when police came and raided our area. They found me with cocaine. I called Ugochukwu from police cell not knowing that they had arrested him,” the 25-year-old added.

The South African based Nigerian kidnap victim, Victor Ogadinma, said he was in Nigeria during the Christmas period to see his family.

According to him, “I was in the front of my house waiting for my family members to open the gate, when three heavily armed men accosted me and forced me out of the car to the back seat. It was around 7.30pm, and my wife came out while they were struggling to push me into the car but they pushed her down.

“I told them I had N220,000 and $2,000 and some European currencies. I was picked on January 7 and released January 10. They offered me food but I chose to drink only water,” Ogadinma said.

The suspect whose house was used to shield the victim, Nwanguma, said “I kept the victim in my mother’s kitchen because she was not around.

“Out of the N70,000 I was given, I gave my brother N50, 000 and my wife, N10,000.

“I pray that government should forgive me because of my children,” 37-year-old Nwanguma pleaded.