34-year-old
Enero Ukonga, a graduate of the University of Benin, had just returned
home after completing his Masters in Business Administration ,MBA course
in Turkey and was making an attempt to proceed for his PHD in the
United States of America.As he relaxed in his Opebi,Lagos family
home,one Osaretin Enabulele , accompanied by four others identified as
Elisha Jonah, Kazeem Ibrahim, Charles Timinnemi, a Medical student in
Romania who was on holiday and the forth identified simply as Fred, came
visiting.
The lead man, Enabulele , an importer who resides in Benin city, Edo
state, was said to have informed Uknonga’s father on phone, that he was
bringing the original copy of the bill of laden of a one by 40 feet
container, to facilitate its clearance from the Apapa Port in Lagos. By
the way, Ukonga’s father, a retired Customs officer, is a clearing and
forwarding agent.
But that visit turned out to be the family’s nightmare, following the
abdution of Ukonga by the visitors. Enabulele was said to have requested
Ukonga to follow him to the car to get the document for his father who
was then in Benin city .
But apprehension
reportedly set it after Ukonga’s friend(names withheld) reportedly
waited in vain for his return. Curiously, he stepped out of the house to
look for him but did not see him nor either of the visitor.
But as he looked round, he reportedly stood still with his mouth agape
in shock, on seeing Ukonga’s pair of slippers in a disarrayed manner.
Sensing trouble, he reportedly put a call to Ukonga’s phone only to
discover it was switched off. Thereafter, he contacted his father who
was in Benin city, to inform him of the ugly development before
reporting the matter at the area ‘F’ division.
The police reportedly swung into action but their effort proved
abortive. Crime Guard gathered the case was transferred from area ‘’F
‘to the Special Anti Robbery Squad , SARS for further investigation. It
was gathered that effort to reach the main suspect , Enabulele failed .
Operatives were said to have travelled to the suspect’s home at 4,
Ehigie street, off Aiaohan, Dumex road, Benin city, where his girlfriend
and his brother were arrested but later released.
Preliminary investigation by operatives of SARS revealed that the main
suspect had bolted to Ghana, following claims by some of his friends
that he called them with a foreign number informing that he was in
Ghana. But when the number was dialled, he reportedly did not pick his
call. Investigation at SARS, lingered for six months without any
headway.
DSS to the rescue
Determined to unearth the mystery surrounding his son’s whereabouts, Mr
Benjamin further lodged a complaint with the Department of Security
Service ,DSS. This action paid off, as one of the men who reportedly
visited that fateful day was arrested in January 2015, six months after.
He is Elisha Jonah. Jonah as gathered, was arrested mid January,
through Enero Ukuoga’s stolen Black Berry phone. The phone was said to
have been traced to a user in Ikeja, Lagos. By the time the user was
arrested, he told the DSS operatives that he bought it from a friend. At
the end , it was discovered that five persons had used the phone, with
the seller traced to Jonah .
Jonah’s confessional statement reportedly led to the arrest of one Kasim Ibrahim, popularly called big daddy, on March 17, 2015.
Enero killed, buried in shallow grave
During interrogation, the duo gave a starling disclosure of the
whereabouts of the missing Ukonga . They revealed that he was dead and
had been buried in a shallow grave at Abesan’s estate, Iyana Ipaja area
of Lagos, close to Kazeem’s house.
When the cat was
let out of the bag, Mr Ukuoga reportedly lost balance and slumped on
one of the seats in the office of the DSS. By the time he came back, he
reportedly gave a blank stare at the suspects , apparently trying to
fathom their claim. When he managed to say a word, he reportedly started
by asking amid tears “what on earth could have warranted such cruel act
on an innocent person?
Case transferred to Police
At this point, the DSS reportedly transferred the case to the Force
Criminal Investigation Department headquarters annex in Alagbon, where
operatives at the Homicide section reportedly led the suspects to the
shallow grave in a bush at Iyana Ipaja, from where the body of Ukonga
was exhumed.
To say that members of the family was devastated at the bizarre
occurrence is to put it mildly, as words could not express the family’s
mood .
Business relationship went sour
Though the discovery plunged the family into a season of sorrow but it
brought an end to the long search for their assumed missing son.
Asked what went wrong between Mr Benjamin Ukonga and the importer,
Enabulele, who is still at large, the bereaved father explained, trying
hard not to betray his emotion:
“ Enabulele was
introduced to me by a family friend. Later, he contacted me in Benin,
saying he had a one by 40 feet container to clear. We settled for N1.5
but he paid N1 million and we started processing the clearance. We paid
the Customs duty and other necessary duties , remaining the shipping
company which required the original bill of laden of the owner of the
container.But to my surprise, he called, requesting for the refund of
his money which was not possible because the job was 95%
concluded.Later, he called to say he had the bill of laden and I told
him to take it to my manager in Lagos. But because that day was a
Saturday, my Manager asked him to drop the document at my house in
Opebi. But we later discovered he had a sinister motive,following the
adoption of my son. My son was never into clearing and forwarding. I was
told he even suggested they waited till Monday to hand the document to
my manager”.
We thought our son was drugged- mother
On her part, Mrs Ukonga cried uncontrollable as she spoke with this
reporter. She started by saying that all the while her son was declared
missing, she kept hoping he would walk in someday. But the recent
revelation according to her has left her shattered.
Hear her: “This
is an act of wickedness in the highest order. My son was an innocent and
obedient person. He was never a troublesome fellow. We never believed
Osaretin Enabulele could be this callous! Ah! This is so aching ….”, she
paused to blow her nose. Through out the period we were searching for
him, I concluded they could have drugged him and abandoned him far away
and that he could have strayed in the process”, she paused again. But
this time around, she broke down in tears at the mere thought that she
would never leave to see her son again.
We didn’t kill him
But when the suspects were interrogated by operatives at Alagbon, they
denied having a hand in Ukonga’s death. Kazeem according to police
sources said:
“ We did not
know how he died. On that day, Osareti Onabulele called Charles that he
had a business deal in Ikeja and needed some help. Charles contacted
Elisha who thereafter, contacted me. We went there, parked a Toyota
Camry car owned by one of us, Elisha, who is Medical student in Romania ,
in front of the building. By the time Enero was bought out of his house
into the car, Elisha was attending to an injury I sustained on the leg.
When we got into the car, we discovered that he(Ukonga) was gasping”.
Asked how the body was buried in the shallow grave, the suspects alleged
that Enabulele instructed them to bury him there, in order to avoid
arrest.
Police declares Enabulele wanted
As at Thursday, the whereabouts of Osareti Enabulele, the alleged
mastermind, was still unknown. He was subsequently declared wanted. A
gazette bulletin from the Force CID read:
“A warrant of
arrest has been obtained from Magistrate Court, in Lagos state for his
arrest. He is wanted for the offence of conspiracy and murder on the
19th July, 2014 at number 10, Ajanaku street off Salvation road, Opebi
Lagos. “Method used in committing the offence is that the suspect with
four others went to the above mentioned address, kidnapped the deceased ,
one Enero Ukonga and on their way to their destination, the deceased
died on the road inside the vehicle” .
Part of the investigation as gathered, included a DNA test on the body ,
with a view to ascertaining whether it is that of Ukonga. The outcome
of the result according to the Police would form their next line of
investigation. The Police as gathered, have also written the shipping
company not to release the container said to have been sent from Italy
by one Kate Uwa, , until investigation is concluded.
The, FCIID, Public Relations Officer, Mr. Friday Achibong, who confirmed
the incident, said Enabulele and others; Fred and Charles at large, had
been declared wanted.
Culed-Vanguard
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