Anambra Police Uncover Grisly Kidnap and Murder of Lawmaker, Arrest Nine Suspects

Nine suspects were paraded on Friday at the Anambra State Police Command headquarters in connection with the kidnapping and brutal killing of a local lawmaker, Hon. Justice Azuka. The suspects revealed chilling details about the crime, confessing that they abducted the lawmaker on December 24, 2024, and murdered him later that same night.

The suspects initially demanded a ransom of N20 million for the release of the victim, but they denied receiving any money before killing him. One of the suspects, a 30-year-old Ugochukwu from Abia State, admitted to beating the lawmaker to death. However, his fellow gang members accused him of shooting the deceased instead.

Outgoing Commissioner of Police in Anambra, CP Nnaghe Itam, explained that a joint security operation by the Command’s Rapid Response Squad (RRS), the anti-kidnapping squad, and the Anambra State Vigilant Group (AVG) led to the arrest of the criminals. During the operation, authorities also recovered firearms from the suspects.

In the early hours of Thursday, the security team located the decomposing body of Hon. Azuka in a bush near the Second Niger Bridge. An autopsy is pending to confirm the exact cause of his death.

CP Itam identified Ugo Ekenewo, a resident of Idemili, as the mastermind behind the abduction, revealing that the group’s motive was to extort money from the lawmaker. In a separate case, a member of another kidnap gang, Peter Sunday, was paraded alongside the lawmaker’s killers. Sunday, from Yalla in Cross River State, explained that he had gotten a tattoo on his chest to protest the killing of his mother by soldiers during a revenge mission. He said he later moved to Anambra in pursuit of money, joining a kidnapping gang.

Sunday pleaded for forgiveness and promised to remove the tattoo.

A source later revealed that the kidnappers had successfully withdrawn N100 million from Hon. Azuka’s account before killing him. A nurse from Asaba helped facilitate the transaction, while a native doctor from the area provided charms for the gang. The leader of the gang, a kingpin, was found residing with the native doctor in a shrine in Asaba. All six gang members, none older than 30, have been arrested, along with the nurse and native doctor.

During the investigation, the police discovered over three dead bodies alongside the remains of Hon. Azuka. The suspects admitted to routinely killing their victims after collecting the ransom, leaving a trail of deaths in their wake.