Chioma Igbokwe
A suspected fraudster, Ogwu Christian, 39, now in police net, after being tracked for about five months, has given a chilling account of how and why he killed one Veronica Obiejiogoh, the mother of her lover.
Christian who was dismissed from the police, but alleged to be a local fraudster, committed the crime in December 2018. He however blamed his action on the deceased who he accused of inducing his girlfriend and wife-to-be to abort the three months’ pregnancy she had for him as well as cancelling their marriage ceremony scheduled for December last year.
He claimed to have gotten seriously frustrated and angry with his girlfriend and her mother and decided to kill them for not only betraying his trust but also defrauding him after spending much money on his girlfriend.
The native of Afor community in Ndokwa East Local Government area of Delta State fled to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, after murdering the 45-year-old woman in cold blood, with a locally made pistol, in front of her children. He committed the grisly act at their residence in Otolokpo community in Ika North Local Government area of Delta State.
In its bid to secure justice over the murder, the family had written a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Adamu Mohammed, to alert him over the incident when it became difficult for the police in Delta State, to trail and arrest the suspect. But after several weeks, operatives of Intelligence Response Team (IRT) detailed to effect his arrest eventually caught him.
Why the marriage was cancelled
The reason for the cancellation of the marriage last December was revealed after the operatives visited Afor community to speak with some of the suspect’s relatives who gave them some vital information that aided in his eventual arrest at a commercial bank in Port Harcourt, five months later.
One of the family members told the police that the deceased discouraged her daughter from going into marriage with Christian when she discovered that the man who she assumed to be a senior police officer as he claimed was a fraudster who specialized in the art of swindling innocent citizens of their hard-earned money under the guise of helping them secure jobs in the police force and other security agencies.
The source revealed that the incident that particularly angered the deceased was when Christian defrauded two residents of Otolokpo community who had approached him as their in-law to-be to help secure jobs at the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC. He allegedly collected N25, 000 each from them without securing any job for them as he had promised. The incident, the source said, got the deceased and her family so embarrassed that they decided to terminate the marriage.
Dismissal from police and joining of fraud syndicate
But when interviewed, the suspect, who claimed to be a graduate of Marine Engineering from the University of Benin, said he was enlisted into the Nigeria Police Force in the year 2000 before he was dismissed after some armed robbers stole a smoke gun assigned to him at a check point.
“My Force Number was 371416 and I was trained at the Police College, Ikeja, Lagos but I was posted to Iho Police Division at the Edo State Police Command, where I served for five years before I was dismissed because a motorbike rider snatched the pistol I was holding at a checking point,” he said.
Out of job, Christian said he joined a fraud syndicate based in Asaba Delta State. His role was to act like a serving Assistant Superintendent of Police, ASP, working at the Force Headquarters Abuja. “I joined a fraud syndicate operating in Asaba Delta State and the man who got me into the syndicate taught me all the tricks and I became a professional fraudster,” he recounted. “I started using my police experience to defraud people. I adopted the rank of a Superintendent of Police and people started coming to me for assistance. Some policemen who were looking for promotions came to me for help because I told them I was working in IGP office Abuja and they were paying me money. People who wanted to get recruited into the police constable level also came to me. I usually demand the sum of N150, 000 as my fee and people who want to go for Cadet level paid me the sum of N400, 000. I took several jobs from people. I succeeded in some cases, while in some cases where I failed I would keep the victims on hold. They all thought I was a real policeman. I also used my position as a fake policeman to smuggle drugs to Ilorin Kwara State and in some cases I tell people that I work for the EFCC.”
Why and how he killed his mother-in-law in cold blood
It was in the course of these fraudulent activities that he met and fell in love with a girl known as Blessing Obijeogoh, said to be a student of Ogwashiukwu Polytechnic, Delta State. “She was a student of that school,” he confirmed.
On why he killed his mother-in-law-to-be, he had this to say: “Blessing told me she was single and we entered into a relationship and in the process she became pregnant. But she aborted the pregnancy. She told me that she could not have a child for me because I wasn’t known to her family. So in April, 2018, I went for a formal introduction and her family asked me to come back for a more elaborate ceremony during which time they would issue me with the list of things to do for her marriage. On September 7, 2018, I went again with my family and we had the ceremony and I got the list. In October of that same year, she informed me that she was pregnant and I said no problem that we would have to hurry up the marriage. We then fixed December 27, 2018 as the date of the marriage. I gave her money to buy clothes we will use for the marriage.
“She bought the clothes, which also included mine. On December 5, 2018, she called me and said she was on her way to Asaba, where I resided. After waiting for her for a long time, I started calling her but she wasn’t picking her calls. Then one of her brothers known as Friday informed me that Blessing was sick and in the hospital in Asaba with her mother. He said she had complications from an abortion she did. I went to the hospital to see the doctor but he refused me access to Blessing and her mother. Then one of my brothers called and told me that Blessing called and informed him that she had miscarriage.
“I called her to know what was going on and she told me that she was in Asaba in her friend’s place. I went there but I couldn’t see her. I waited all day without seeing her. So I stopped looking for her. On December 21, 2018, she called me again and informed me that she had traveled to Lagos. I was angry because it was obvious that she and her mother were up to something. I was so angry that I made up my mind to deal with her and her mother. I asked Steven, my friend, to get me a gun with two live cartridges, which he did and I paid him the sum of N10, 000 for it.
“On December 26, 2018, which was supposed to be the eve of our marriage, I took the gun to Blessing’s village. I investigated and discovered that she was in town. I called her and she lied again that she was in Lagos. I moved closer to their shop, and bought a bottle of dry gin and some sachet of Tramadol and took them at once to steady my nerve so that I won’t be scared and turn back. While I was consuming the products, I sighted her mother and her younger brother walking towards my direction. I went to them brought out my gun and shot Blessing’s mother. I watched her die from the wound before zooming off on a bike. I took the gun to my sister’s place in Oriegoh and dropped it with her before fleeing to Rivers State. I was in my friend’s house where I was waiting for the matter to die down when policemen arrested me.”