By Emma Njoku
Two Lagos-based traders, Christain Chinedu Ejezie, a.k.a Holy Condom and Okechukwu Ibemere, have disassociated themselves from media reports which alleged that they had confessed to involvement in kidnap and eventual killing of a businessman, Mr. Ikechukwu Ebelebe.
Mr. Ebelebe, who hailed from Owerre Akokwa in Ideato North Local Government area of Imo State, was reportedly kidnapped and later killed by suspected criminals after collecting N10 million ransom for his release.
Ejezie and Ibemere were among those arrested, by the police over the incident, but were later found to be innocent of any involvement in the crime after police investigation.
The duo, who are traders at the Ebute Ero market in the Lagos Island area of Lagos State, while thanking God for being vindicated in the matter, however, regret that having been paraded before the media, alongside other suspected criminals, their public images have been terribly smeared.
Operatives of the Nigerian Police Anti-Robbery and Kidnapping Squad, Imo State Command, had trailed and arrested them in Lagos on May 17, 2023, and subsequently detained them in Owerri for over two months, where they were also paraded before the media with guns and other dangerous weapons alongside other suspected criminals.
Detailed police investigation, however, absolved Ejezie and Ibemere of any involvement in the crime for which they were arrested.
The police, while investigating the dastardly killing of the victim, had stumbled on some phone numbers that the alleged prime suspect (names withheld) had communications with before or around the period of crime. The police team widened the scope of their investigation to Lagos State, where the deceased was said to have resided before travelling home on the ill-fated journey.
One of those detained, Chinedu Ejezie, said their ordeal started on May 16, 2023 after he received a call by the police who said they were looking for him.
“I received a call and the person said he was a policeman and that they had looked for me at the shop, but I was already gone for the day. The man ordered me to report at the Ebute Ero Police station the following day, which was on May 17, 2023. In the morning that day, I reported to the police as requested. At the police station, they asked me about a phone call I received from someone they called their prime suspect. In the past, this prime suspect used to be one of the traders like us here in the market.
“Although, we knew each other because we all came from the same community in Akokwa, I was never close to him. The guy had gone to my family house in Akokwa, Imo State to meet my elder brother who gave him my number, and he called me there in the presence of my brother.
“The guy said he had lost his mother and was looking for phone numbers of Okechukwu Ibemere and Ifeanyi Okpara (both are also traders here). He told me he needed to ask those people for financial help for the burial of his late mother. I didn’t have their numbers, but out of sympathy, I went and got the phone numbers and sent to him. That was all that transpired between me and the guy. I didn’t know any other thing about him until my arrest,” Ejezie narrated.
His co-detainee, Ibemere, who was picked up same day while in his shop, also recalled: “I was right in front of my shop when they came to arrest me. I followed the police to the station and when we reached there, they interrogated us and after, put us in the cell. I was not involved, whatsoever, in the killing of Mr. Ikechukwu Ebelebe, but they kept us in the cell and the next day, they took us to Owerri.
“Actually, the person the police said was their prime suspect used to be my neighbour in the shop here, at Ebute Ero market, some six or eight years ago before he left, and since that time, we’ve lost contact with each other, which was the reason he had to send someone else, Chinedu, to to collect my number. And when the guy (prime suspect) called me, he only told me about his mother’s death and was asked me to assist him with some money for the burial. After he left the market in Ebute Ero, either for home or somewhere I don’t know, nothing again connected us until he called to ask for my financial support. That was all I knew about him. I do not know anything about the case the police was pursuing. I also have no connection with the victim and when the news of his death spread into the Ebute Ero market, all of us, Igbo traders, mourned because we knew him to be a nice person.”
However, as their release order was being effected, the detainees learnt to their chagrin, that their names and photographs as arrested criminals were trending on both the social media and in some major newspapers.
“My church people called my brother and informed him that they had seen my picture on the social media platforms,” Ibemere lamented.
“I am a staunch Catholic and a member of the Charismatic group. All through the period that I was in detention, my church people showed solidarity because they knew and trusted my character. Some even contributed money which they sent to my brother to help in my feeding. But immediately they saw those stories, they all became worried and calls started flying around. All I want now is for the world to know that I was innocent and that I am still the good boy or young man they used to know. I was wrongly accused.” he stated.
As for Chinedu Ejezie, it was his first call to his wife after being released that revealed the gravity of that wrong police media parade.
“I came out of the police headquarters in Owerri and the first person I called was my wife to tell her that I had been released, but she told me that my landlord in Lagos State had brought a copy of a newspaper which carried my picture with guns as a criminal. While in detention, my rent was already expiring and I couldn’t imagine what the next action of the landlord would be. The news came as a big blow to me because what it meant was that many people who saw that publication would think it was true. But it was not.
“I went to the Ebute Ero Police Station by myself and there was nothing like gun with me. I don’t know where the police got the guns they placed in front of us and asked the media people to video and take pictures of us. We’re never involved in the crime and there was never a time we confessed to being part of it. The whole essence of this now is to let the world know that we are innocent.”