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By Madu Obi
The women leader of Oga-Ndi-Oga Solidarity Movement, a support group of Obiorah Agbasimelo, the missing 2021 Anambra governorship candidate of the Labour Party, LP, Mrs Ebere Okeke, has narrated how the LP candidate was kidnapped.
She told an Ihiala High Court sitting at Nnewi that the two suspects - Chukwudi Odimegwu and Maxwell Nwokolo - allegedly played certain roles in the kidnap of Agbasimalo.
Agbasimalo was abducted on September 18, 2021, at Lilu in Ihiala local government area of Anambra State, while returning from a campaign and his whereabouts is still unknown.
In a Suit No.HIH/15C/22, the accused persons, Chukwudi Odimegwu and Nwokolo Maxwell are standing trial before the court for alleged conspiracy and kidnap of Agbasimalo at ahead of that year's November governorship election.
Testifying before Justice C.N. Mbonu-Nwenyi, the presiding Judge of the Ihiala High Court as second prosecution witness, PW2, in a resumed hearing, Okeke recalled the roles played by both Odimegwu and Nwokolo in the abduction saga.
She said that on the fateful day, after the meeting of the Oga-Ndi-Oga Solidarity Movement, Chief Godwin Agbasimalo, the elder brother of the abducted Labour Party candidate and sponsor of the campaign train, instructed the drivers and car owners to go to a particular petrol station and fuel their cars in preparation for the movements of the campaign train.
She said: "Soon after the instruction, the first defendant, Odimegwu dismissed the members who wanted to accompany the candidate to the campaign ground, as directed by Chief Godwin Agbasimalo and asked everyone to go home."
"When the first defendant, Odimegwu was asked why he decided to dismiss members of the campaign organisation, he replied that the Chief had selected the people to go for the campaign."
"The decision of Odimegwu to dismiss other members of the campaign organisation and his instruction to members to collect bags and political materials was quite unusual, because we usually do that after outings and not before outings."
Okeke also stated that in order to ensure the success of the abduction, Odimegwu left for the ceremony with the candidate alone without informing the members about their departure.
She also told the court that Odimegwu was giving some people direction through telephone calls placed on his ear by one "Ebony" who was one of the occupants of their vehicle and it was on a speak-out.
Okeke said that the defendant was giving the abductors direction until they reached Azia where he stopped answering and picking his calls.
The Woman Leader also testified that when they reached a place, one Kosisochukwu Oyeudo, the girl friend of Odimegwu broke the news that Chief Obiorah Agbasimalo had been kidnapped.
During cross examination by the counsel to one of the defendants, Okeke stated that after the kidnap of Obiorah Agbasimalo, the second defendant, Nwokolo called her on telephone and requested her to become his girlfriend and at the same time, warned her to avoid associating with Odimegwu, the first defendant because he had queer character.
Okeke added: "But in my reply, I told him, 'I don't know you'. He then sent his picture to my phone with stern warning again that I should avoid Chukwudi Odimegwu because he is a dangerous person".
"He also told me that Chukwudi Odimegwu was the person who kidnapped Agbasimalo and that I should not panic, that once Oga-Ndi-Oga, the campaign sponsor brings the money the kidnappers requested from him, he would be released because all they wanted was just to collect money from the sponsor, High Chief Godwin Agbasimalo. (Oga ndi Oga).
"Nwokolo told me that he went to the camp where Agbasimalo was kept to give him his inhaler because he is an asthmatic patient, I was happy to hear that and I praised God because there were speculations by then that Agbasimalo had been killed by his abductors inside the camp.
"Nwokolo claimed that some indigenes of Ezinifte where High Chief Godwin Agbasimalo Oga-Ndi-Oga and his younger brother/LP candidate, Obiorah hail from, also had hands in his kidnap saga and as such they didn't want him to be freed or else he would expose them."
After further cross-examination, Justice Mbonu-Nwenyi discharged Okeke adjourned the matter to March 22, for further hearing.
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