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Wife exposes pastor Richard, who staged own kidnap to extort brother
…Suspect: I did it because I was in debt
According to a police source, on June 16, one Mr. Prosper, Onyekachukwu’s wealthy younger brother, reported to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba that his elder brother named Richard (Onyekachukwu) had been kidnapped and a line of conversation had been opened with his abductors who were asking for a ransom.
The source further disclosed that the IGP immediately directed the Commander of the FIB Intelligence Response Team (FIB-IRT), Abba Kyari, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) to investigate the matter, ensure the safe return of Onyekachukwu and fish out the culprits.
The IRT operatives swung into action by first visiting the house of the victim where they met his wife but were shocked that she looked unperturbed. And when the operatives introduced themselves as police officers investigating a case of armed robbery against her husband, she shouted that her husband was not an armed robber but only travelled to Taraba State on a business trip.
She told the police officers that although members of her husband’s family thought that he had been in captivity for three weeks, she last saw him about a week earlier.
On the basis of her claims, she was arrested and taken to the police station for interrogation, following which she opened up that it was a case of self-kidnap and the whole idea was from her husband.
She said her husband had financial challenges and was desperately looking for a way to repay the loans he had collected. She said her husband’s plan was to collect the ransom money and pay up his debt.
Following a clue from Mary that her husband was due to visit the house on June 18, the police laid an ambush and picked him up on the said date.
In his confession, Onyekachukwu, who described himself as a pastor and a contractor from Idemili South LGA, said he decided to organise his own kidnap in order to generate money with which he could solve a pressing financial problem.
He said: “I had a big church, Resurrection Power Church, but its roof was blown away by storm. I then took some loans to assist the businesses with which I was supporting the ministry and it was about N600,000.
Unfortunately, in the process, I had financial challenges and paying the loan became difficult. I made some losses in my poultry business and COVID-19 did not help matters. The banks were after me and I didn’t know what to do.
“I was thinking of how to get money from my younger brother, Prosper. He is a civil servant and also rich but stingy. I was thinking of how to get money from him to offset the bills before they would take me to court.
“It wasn’t easy; that was why the thoughts came to me. I don’t know why I decided to use that strategy.
“I called my friend Enoch and shared my thoughts with him. Enoch is also a pastor. Initially, he did not accept, but after sometime, he agreed. I told him that even it was a million or N500,000, I would be satisfied.
“Sometime in May, I travelled home to drop the corpse of my deceased mother at the mortuary. After that, I travelled to Nkpor, close to my village, to see if I could get some contracts.
“I was supposed to come back after a week. I called my wife and brothers about my mission at the village. There was three days delay and my wife was panicking because my phones were off. She called my brothers that I am missing.
“When I came back, I sneaked into the compound, dropped my bag and went to the mountain to pray. I called Enoch that we had an opportunity. He then called and told them that I had been kidnapped.
“I used to come back home, but most times I would sleep in my friend’s place. I told my wife after a week. She started suspecting my movements and I told her the things on the ground and that I didn’t know what to do. I needed to get money from Prosper before the bank people would come to embarrass us.
“I am the second son of my parents, and as an elder, I am expected to play a major role in my mother’s burial. We had a meeting and fixed a date and everyone was running around to see how to raise money to contribute.”
On why he requested that his brother, Prosper, must bring the ransom personally, Richard said: “I have no particular reason to request that my brother, Prosper, should bring the money. I never even thought of that as an issue. This is something I thought would just end within the family. My plan was to inform him after some time.
“On the ransom, I demanded N10 million and they bargained to N5 million, and finally, they brought N2 million. We were still waiting to hear from him when police arrested me at home.
“I am not happy. It is a regrettable action. I took it as a family issue I did not know it would get to this extent. I simply tell him that the reason is that if I had asked him for money to settle my debt, he would not do it. I am close to my brother, so I expected that he would bring the money to save my life.”
Mary, in her own statement, who described herself as a petty trader, said her husband told her that he would be embarking on a business trip on May 20.
“After some days, we could not reach him again. He did not come back the day he said he would return. I called his brothers and explained to them and they said I should relax, that he would come. It took about three days before someone called that my husband had been kidnapped and they were demanding N10 million.
“After a week, he came back and I was happy that he had been released, but he told me to shut up, that he would explain. He then asked me if I had plans to pay up our debts.
“He said since everyone believed that he had been kidnapped, I should not say anything till money was paid. He told me that I had started demonstrating my stubbornness when a woman was supposed to be submissive to her husband no matter the case.
“I was both confused and scared. The night they came to arrest me, I called the uncle and raised the alarm. The next day, they arrested me.
I met him as a pastor and I was taught to be submissive. I was just being submissive. It is not about love but obeying the word of God. I don’t have any word to justify myself. I am finding it difficult to forgive myself.
In his own confession, Enoch, a native of Awgu, Enugu State, said: “I am the founder of Christ Resurrection Power, Gospel Church of All Nations. I have no other job except evangelism. I started the church two years before the COVID-19 shutdown.
“My members dispersed and I was not able to raise money to pay rent so I shut down the church. Reverend Richard (Onyekachukwu) is my neighbour and brother in the Lord. He came to me and told me about his money challenge.
“He is owing some microfinance banks, the landlord was at his neck and he needed to contribute money for his mother’s burial. He does not have money to contribute as an elder brother.
“He said that he needed my assistance. I asked in what area and he said that he wanted to have himself kidnapped. He did not have anywhere to get the money from. His brothers do not like to give him money. He wanted to use this pattern to get money from his brother so I agreed to help him.
“He wrote a script and gave it to me, which I acted properly, including pretending to beat him up. We normally went close to the mountain and called them from there.
“We didn’t have any sharing formula until the money would come. I wanted to use it to go down to the east for evangelism.
“To survive, I used to go for outreach programmes and people will sow seeds and give offerings.
I knew that it was wrong when we got to the police station. The Bible says that deceit is a sin. I don’t know which devil entered my mind.
“I got a calling as far back as 2002 and I served under a church till 2015 when I was officially released. We opened an outreach but the church was officially opened in 2003.
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Breaking : Tinubu Removes NMDPRA Chiefs Farouk, Komolafe Over Sabotage, Corruption Allegations; Names Replacement
The Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority, Farouk Ahmed, has resigned.
Similarly, his counterpart at the Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, Gbenga Komolafe, has stepped down.
Based on the development, President Bola Tinubu has asked the Senate to confirm new chief executives for the two agencies.
The President’s request was contained in separate letters to the Senate on Wednesday.
This was announced in a statement issued by the President’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga.
Both officials were appointed in 2021 by former President Muhammadu Buhari after the enactment of the Petroleum Industry Act.
According to the statement, Tinubu “has written to the Senate, requesting expedited confirmation of Oritsemeyiwa Amanorisewo Eyesan as CEO of NUPRC and Engineer Saidu Aliyu Mohammed as CEO of NMDPRA.”
The statement noted that Eyesan, an economist and oil industry veteran, spent nearly 33 years at the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited and its subsidiaries.
She retired in 2024 as Executive Vice President, Upstream, and previously served as Group General Manager, Corporate Planning and Strategy.
Mohammed, a chemical engineer and former Managing Director of the Kaduna Refining and Petrochemical Company and the Nigerian Gas Company, has also served on several energy sector boards.
He recently emerged as an independent non-executive director at Seplat Energy.
“The two nominees are seasoned professionals in the oil and gas industry,” the statement noted.
Ahmed’s resignation comes amid a high-profile conflict with Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, which drew national attention in December 2025.
The dispute arose from Dangote’s allegations that Ahmed and his family were living beyond their legitimate means, citing millions of dollars allegedly spent on overseas schooling for his four children.
Dangote petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate and prosecute Ahmed for abuse of office and corrupt enrichment, sparking a nationwide debate over regulatory oversight in Nigeria’s petroleum sector.
The NMDPRA chief dismissed Dangote’s claims as “wild and spurious,” insisting that he would rather defend himself before a formal investigative body than engage in public arguments.
The conflict, which traces its roots to 2024 when Ahmed criticised domestic refinery output—including Dangote’s refinery—prompted intervention by the House of Representatives, which summoned both parties to avoid destabilising the sector.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday evening met with the embattled Chief Executive of the Nigerian Midstream and Downstream Petroleum Regulatory Authority (NMDPRA), Farouk Ahmed, at the State House, Abuja.
The meeting came amid allegations of financial impropriety made by industrialist and President of the Dangote Group, Alhaji Aliko Dangote, against the NMDPRA boss.
Dangote and Ahmed have been at odds for a while now over downstream petroleum regulation and the future of domestic refining in Nigeria.
At a press conference on Sunday at the Dangote Petroleum Refinery, Dangote accused the NMDPRA, under Mr Ahmed’s leadership, of economic sabotage, alleging that regulatory actions were undermining local refining capacity.
He claimed that the continued issuance of import licences for petroleum products was frustrating domestic refiners and deepening Nigeria’s reliance on fuel imports.
The billionaire industrialist further alleged that the regulator was colluding with international traders and petroleum importers to the detriment of local operators, accusations to which the NMDPRA has yet to publicly respond.
Mr Dangote also made personal allegations against the NMDPRA chief, claiming that Mr Ahmed was living beyond his legitimate means.
He alleged that four of Mr Ahmed’s children attend secondary schools in Switzerland at costs running into several millions of dollars, arguing that such expenditure raised concerns about conflicts of interest and the integrity of regulatory oversight in the downstream petroleum sector.
On Monday, Mr Dangote escalated the claims, accusing Mr Ahmed of corruption and misappropriation of public funds.
He alleged that about $5 million was spent on the secondary education and upkeep of the children over six years, with an additional $2 million on tertiary education, including an alleged $210,000 for a 2025 Harvard MBA programme for one of them.
The controversy deepened on Tuesday when Mr Dangote, through his lawyer, Ogwu Onoja, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), petitioned the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), calling for Mr Ahmed’s arrest, investigation, and prosecution.
In the petition addressed to ICPC Chairman Musa Aliyu, Mr Dangote alleged that the NMDPRA chief “spent without evidence of lawful means of income amounting to over $7 million for the education of his four children” in Switzerland.
The petition reportedly included the names of the children, the schools attended, and detailed figures for verification.
Mr Ahmed arrived at the Presidential Villa at about 5:30 p.m. and left the President’s office after less than 30 minutes.
He declined to speak with journalists as he exited the State House and offered no comment on the allegations or the outcome of his meeting with President Tinubu.
The immediate past Managing Director of the National Inland Waterways Authority, Bola Oyebamiji, on Saturday emerged as the consensus candidate of the All Progressives Congress for the forthcoming Osun State governorship election.
Oyebamiji’s emergence followed a motion moved by two governorship aspirants, Kunle Adegoke (SAN) and Senator Babajide Omoworare, at the primary election venue located within the premises of Ebunoluwa Group of Schools, Osogbo.
The Chairman of the APC governorship primary committee and Governor of Edo State, Monday Okpebholo, thereafter subjected the motion to a voice vote, which received overwhelming support from party members present at the primary.
Okpebholo subsequently declared, “By the power conferred on me, I present to you Bola Oyebamiji, as the governorship candidate of our party.”
Newsthumb earlier reported that the APC governorship primary in Osun State commenced in Osogbo, the state capital, with the arrival of the committee chairman, Monday Okpebholo, who noted that the candidate will emerge by affirmation.
APC’s gov candidate Oyebamiji pledges to reposition Osun
He arrived at the venue alongside the co-chairman of the committee, Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa of Ondo State, and other members of the governorship primary committee, including Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State, Dr Obafemi Hamzat, who represented the Lagos State Governor, and former Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
Earlier on Tuesday, 1660 delegates that would elect the APC candidate in the December 13 governorship primary of the party emerged.
There were also clear indications that the seven APC governorship aspirants in the state had stepped down to back a consensus flagbearer after a late-night meeting with President Bola Tinubu at the State House, Abuja, on Wednesday.
A former APC National Secretary, Senator Iyiola Omisore, on Wednesday, speaking on a TVC News programme, Politics Tonight, declared his support for the party’s arrangement to choose a consensus candidate for the 2026 Osun State governorship election.
Omisore, who was among seven aspirants disqualified by the APC Screening Committee for alleged violations of party guidelines and electoral provisions, said he accepted the decision following guidance from President Bola Tinubu.
The Supreme Court has overridden the pardon granted by President Bola Tinubu to an Abuja-based house wife, Maryam Sanda, who was in 2020 sentenced to death by hanging for killing her husband, Bilyaminu Bello, during a domestic dispute.
President Tinubu had reduced Sanda’s sentence to 12 years imprisonment on compassionate ground.
But in a judgment a on Friday, the Supreme Court, in a split decision of four-to-one, affirmed the death sentence handed Sanda by the Court of Appeal, Abuja which upheld the decision of a HIgh Court of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), sentencing her to death by hanging.
The Apex Court resolved all the issues raised in the appeal she filed against her and dismissed the appeal for being without merit.
Court orders woman accused of killing husband to enter defence
Justice Moore Adumein held in the lead judgment, which he personally delivered, that the prosecution proved the case beyond reasonable doubt as required, adding that the Court of Appeal was right to have affirmed the judgement of the trial court.
Justice Adumein held that it was wrong for the Executive to seek to exercise its power of pardon over a case of culpable homicide, in respect of which an appeal was pending.
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