Thirty-five-year-old Thomas Matthew has told a horrific tale of how his father, who he claimed initiated him into an occult group, appeared to him and told him to sacrifice his children to him.

In response to the demand, Matthew strangled his two-month-old son, John Matthew and four-year-old daughter, Mary Matthew at different times. But his attempt to also kill his first son, Josiah Matthew, who is nine years old, backfired.

The horrendous acts were committed in Mountain village opposite Dantata Camp, Asokoro, Abuja.

As Sunday Sun learnt from the Commissioner of Police, of the Federal Capital Territory Police Command, Mr. Mohammed Mustafa, the suspect, Matthew strangled his daughter, Mary, inside his house on October 7, 2016, after beating his wife, Bola, who is deaf and dumb and chasing her out of the house.

In a brief interaction facilitated by a sign language expert, the wife who is deaf and dumb recalled how the husband had tried to kill their first son.

She said: “I didn’t know that my husband is a cultist. I remember when he first tried to kill our first son, I reported the matter at the Garki Police Station. It was my mother who took the boy away from the house and he is still staying with her in Mararaba, Nasarawa State. Then I had another son last year.

When he was two months old, he became sick. My husband killed him in September 2015. I didn’t know until he confessed. This year I had our daughter. In the night of October 7, 2016, we were together in the house when suddenly he started beating me. I got injured and ran away to his elder sister’s house. Before I came back with his sister, he had strangled our baby to death.

He locked the door and ran away. It was policemen from Asokoro Police Station, where I reported the case that broke the door and found the baby. We rushed the baby to Asokoro General Hospital. The doctor said the baby was dead. Now I have only one son left, Josiah Matthew. It was only God who saved me from the power of darkness.”

When he spoke with Sunday Sun at the headquarters of the Criminal Investigation Department of the FCT Police Command, where he is being held prior to arraignment in court, Matthew corroborated what the wife said and made other disclosures in explanation of what drove him to commit the alleged heinous acts.

His words: “I got married to my wife, Bola, and we were blessed with three kids. My father is a cultist and he initiated me into the occult. My father asked me to offer the children as sacrifice and mark of honour to him, promising he would make me become rich.

“It was a covenant that nobody knew, even my wife. My father gave me conditions that if anybody got to know or I revealed the covenant, that the covenant would be destroyed. From the time I had my first child, my father began disturbing me to offer my child to him as a sacrifice.

Matthew who hails from Kwande Local Government Area, Benue State, further said: “I tried to kill my first child by strangling, but my wife caught me and reported to the police and her mother came to take the child away from the house. He has been staying with her in Mararaba, Nasarawa State.

Later my father appeared to me after I had my second son, John, who became sick. I strangled him to death in 2015. On October 7, 2016, my father appeared to me again that I should kill my only daughter. I was with my wife and then I started beating her and she ran away to my elder sister’s house and I locked the door and strangulated my four-month-old baby girl and she died.

I locked the entrance of the house and ran away. It was the youth in my area that arrested me and handed me over to the police. I wanted to kill my younger brother according to my father’s instruction. My father is still alive and he is in the village in Benue State.”

The police commissioner assured that the suspect would be charged to court soon.

There was confusion in Delta State on Saturday as a wedding reception ended half-way, following the bride’s pronouncement that she was no longer interested in the few-hours-old marriage.

DAILY POST reports that the bride, who ran away from the reception venue, was given hot chase by the husband.

The incident, which occurred at ‎Udu Local Government Area of Delta State, created serious scene in the area.

At the popular Orhunwhorhun road, the husband was seen begging the bride to reconsider her decision.

The incident attracted a large crowd, as well as members of their families, in a frantic effort to settle the matter.

More to come…

An Agege Customary Court yesterday dissolved the 12-year-old marriage between a policeman, Patrick Idoko and his wife, Udoka, for infidelity, lack of love and trust.

Idoko, 40, from Benue State, who lives in Shomoye Street, Ijaiye-Ojokoro, Lagos described his wife as troublesome and uncaring.

He went to court to dissolve the marriage on grounds of infidelity, lack of love and care for hims and the four children of the union.

His marriage, he said, was crisis-free until two years ago when he suspected Udoka was having extra-marital affairs.

“l set a trap for her and she fell for it on Jan. 12 and since then, my wife refused to come home.

“Due to her shameful act, she left me and I have been taking care of the children.”

The petitioner said he secretly installed a memory card on the new phone he bought for her to record her conversations.

“The playback of the phone revealed the secret conversations between the respondent and her secret lover.”

In her response, Udoka, denied all the allegations made against her and pleaded with the court not to dissolve the marriage, attributing her travails to rumour mongers in their neighbourhood.

The petitioner had earlier accepted to take the woman back on the condition that she subjected herself to some “spiritual cleansing”.

The respondent agreed to the terms, but refused to follow the husband to the village for the cleansing.

Dissolving the union, the President of the court, Mr Philip Williams, said: “The relationship between the couple has broken down completely and the respondent shows she is no more interested in the marriage.”

He asked both parties to go their separate ways and warned them to desist from blackmailing and harassing each other.

The president warned the respondent not to go to the petitioner’s residence, work place or his church to cause trouble and directed that the marriage dissolution certificate should be sent to Udoka to inform her about the development.

President Buhari has debunked insinuations by some Nigerians that his nephew, Mamman Daura, is in charge of his government.

In an interview with Osasu Igbinedion, President Buhari said

“That is from Sahara Reporters. I don’t know where they get their news from. I stood for the election, I visited every local government in Nigeria, I travelled by road, by air, and so on, and we had one of the most credible election. So whoever feels he has lost somehow is his own problem, I have no problem.” he said.

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For members of a notorious kidnap gang operating in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, nothing could go wrong, but Wednesday, October 12, 2016 was the day the long arm of the law caught up with them.

The nine members of the gang, who were apprehended by the operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team in a five-hour raid that day, said they were so efficient in their criminal operations that they once kidnapped four victims on the same day.

The afternoon raid led to the arrest of Daniel Gabriel (33), Alaso Igodo (25), Akeodi Aselemi (34), Ayibinmotei Livinus (25), Anikuroka Marshal (33), Biebele Elijah (34) Efiye Anda (34), Daniel Lessor (31) and Isaac Reuben (27), all living within the Port Harcourt metropolis.

The police said the gang was responsible for most of the kidnappings that took place within GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt, Borokiri General Area and YKC axis of Woji in Rivers State.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the string of events which led to the apprehension of the nine suspects started with the abduction of a woman identified as Mrs. Okotie, who was kidnapped few weeks ago opposite the Royal House of Grace Church in Port Harcourt.

The gang was said to have abducted her in the Mazda car they used as operational vehicle.

The victim told the police that she had told the suspects that she was not feeling fine but they did not listen to her.

Fortunately for Mrs. Okotie, the car broke down along the way and the leader of the gang named Blackie, called for another vehicle, a Nissan Primera, which arrived shortly after.

“But they did not know that we had got information about them. They were on their way to the Ornage Waterside when we intercepted them. As soon as they saw us, they fled and abandoned the woman in the car along with one of their rifles,” the source said.

Few days after the botched kidnapping of Mrs. Okotie, IRT operatives who were following up on a lead, arrested Gabriel, a taxi driver, around 2.pm on October 12.

When Gabriel, an Akwa-Ibom indigene living at Navy Market Borikiri, Port-Harcourt was taken in for questioning, he confessed that he had personally been involved in 15 kidnaps in the last few months in the state.

He then led the police to his house where five members of the gang were already planning another kidnap.

“When we got to his house, we arrested five of his gang members and from there, we proceeded to Enugu Waterfront where we arrested Anikuroka Marshal, the gang’s armourer. The suspects also identified Diobele Elijah and Akodi Aselemi as their spies who go around town scouting for victims. They confessed to have three AK47 rifles, two pistols, which they use in their operations,” a police source said.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that in one of the kidnaps carried out by the gang, on August 10, 2016, a pastor, Mrs. Luis Ubah and one Mr. Chika Ezenwa were abducted. The same day, the gang kidnapped a business woman, Mrs. Ubah in her store, they also grabbed another victim identified as Ezenwa who was with Ubah at the time.

The four victims were taken by the gang to the Indoki Estate Waterfront.

The source explained that while on their way to the waterfront, the gang encountered a police team and instantly opened fire on the policemen.

“Inspector David Ijosi and one Corporal Dike Ledee were injured by bullets in the attack. One was hit in the leg while another was hit in the neck and the kidnappers escaped into the Isaka creeks in Okrika,” the source said.

Soon after, the gang made contact with Ubah’s husband, Bishop Prince Ubah, from whom they demanded a N50m ransom for her freedom.

During the ensuing negotiation, the ransom for the release of the bishop’s wife was reduced to N2.8m and a place was agreed on for the family to drop the ransom.

But in a dramatic turn of events, when two brothers of the bishop, Onyeka Ani and Pastor Okezie Akara, took the money to the agreed place on August 25, 2016, 15 days after Mrs. Ubah was kidnapped, the gang members decided to release her along with Ezenwa but kidnapped the two brothers instead.

The police said they then demanded another N1m ransom from the bishop for his brothers. But N750, 000 was eventually paid for their release.

Police investigation also showed that in August 2016, the gang kidnapped one Nkechi at YKC Junction in Woji Town, Port Harcourt, and she was transported to the Woji Waterfront where they ferried her by speedboat to Kula community in Akukotoru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The woman was reportedly kept in captivity for two weeks and was released after a ransom of N2m was paid by her family.

In September, a victim identified as Coachie, who was abducted around Number One Stadium, Port Harcourt, was released after a ransom of N2.5m was paid.

In his statement, Gabriel explained that he came to Port Harcourt in 2015 and worked as a taxi driver but when things became difficult for him, he moved his family back home and joined his first kidnapping gang.

He said, “I met the members of the gang in March 2016. I was plying the Aba Road looking for passengers one day when they stopped me and entered my taxi. They asked me to take them to Borikiri in Port Harcourt.

“When we got there, I was surprised that they paid me more than I demanded and I told them that I wanted to know more about them. The leader who sat in front passenger seat then gave me his phone number and said he would like me to work with them.

“Few days later, they invited me to a hotel in Borikiri and told me what they did. In April, Blackie, the gang leader, called and asked that I should meet him in his hotel. When I got there, I met other members of the gang preparing for an operation. They showed me two bags containing guns and put it in my car. I then drove them to GRA in Port Harcourt.

“When we got there, the gang’s informant said we had missed the target, a woman, who had just left the place. While leaving, we saw a man driving a nice car and we kidnapped him. He was taken to the Indoki Estate Waterfront. We put him in a speed boat and took him to a camp across the river.”

Gabriel said they carried out many kidnappings and that in August 2016, when they kidnapped Mrs. Okotie, it was like God just wanted them to be caught.

According to him, he had no idea what happened to his car, which he converted from a taxi cab to the gang’s operational vehicle.

“When we were intercepted by the police that day, we left one gun in the car while escaping while Blackie escaped with one other rifle. He gave it to one of our boys, who normally kept our rifles. But after I was arrested, I took the police to the boy and they recovered the rifle and my cab,” he said.

However, in his confessional statement, Anda, a speed boat operator, said he got N200,000 each time he ferried the kidnappers and their victims to their camps across the river in his speed boat.

The suspect, a Bayelsa State indigene, said he was involved in pipeline vandalism and oil theft before the military destroyed the camps in which they “cook” the oil, referring to the numerous makeshift oil refineries that dot creeks where oil militants operate in the country.

“When I became jobless, my friends invited me to Port Harcourt to join the kidnapping business. I became their boat operator. Apart from the transport duty, I was also in charge of buying food for the gang members and the victims. I bought a speed boat with the money I have made so far,” Anda said.

Marshal (the gang’s armourer) on the other hand, said he was paid N40,000 per each operation.

The suspect, who is an indigene of Opobo-Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State, said he usually kept the guns in an abandoned bus parked inside the Baptist Church field in Borokiri.

“I did not usually go out with them for the operations. My job is to keep the guns,” he said.

Another suspect, Elijah, a native of Okrika in Rivers State, said he was lured to the gang by his boss, whom he identified as Elvis.

According to him, his role was to assist Elvis to monitor the movement of their targets.

“There was a time I followed Elvis three times to spy on a woman we wanted to kidnap. We could not carry out the operation because our leader, Blackie did not come on time. I was also with him in GRA where we kidnapped the woman who was rescued by the police. Elvis had only been giving me little money since I started working with him. But he loved to buy me a lot of drinks,” he said.

The police said investigation on the scale of the operations of the gang was still on and that they were making efforts to arrest other members of the gang who are now underground.

– Punch