Chief Daniel Okafor alias Odogwu Anam the kingpin of a criminal gang allegedly responsible for the spate of kidnapping in Anambra and Delta State has been convicted and sentenced to 11 years imprisonment by an Asaba High Court for attempting to kidnap an Asaba based industrialist, on the 16th of January, 2013.
Chief Okafor, who claimed to be the chairman of a non-existent National Task Force on Illegal Importation of Small Arms, Light Weapons and Monitoring of Oil Pipeline Vandalism, River Niger Operations was found guilty of two-count charge of conspiracy and attempted kidnap.
Both offences are punishable under Section 516 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C21 Volume I, Laws of Delta State, 2006.
The court sentenced him to five years imprisonment for conspiracy, and six years for the attempted kidnap. He was, however, discharged and acquitted on the charge of attempted murder.
Okafor was arrested following the confessional statement of one of the assailants, Ifeanyi Iwuno, who later escaped from police custody after his arrest for the attempted kidnap of Ucheche on or about January 16, 2013 at Asaba within the Asaba Judicial Division.
Iwuno still at large, during police interrogation admitted being part of the gang that attempted to kidnap Chief Ucheche, and fingered Okafor, as the one who sent them on the mission.
After the failed kidnap attempt Ucheche had petitioned the Commissioner of Police through his lawyer wherein he stated that his assailants were also on a mission to kill him as they fired gunshots at him which landed on his hand and destroyed two tyres of his Lexus Sport Utility Vehicle.
Counsel to in the said victim stated in the petition as follows
“On the 16th of January 2013, our client was brutally shot in the hand at close range in the front of his house situate along Cable Point Area of Asaba by some unknown gunmen. The said gunmen who came in two vehicles also riddled the tyres of his Lexus SUV which our client reported at the “B” Division Police Station but the culprits have however not been arrested”
Continuing, he further stated that:
“Recently, our client got phone calls from an unknown person through GSM No 07083823180 who identified himself as the one who shot him. The mysterious caller told our client that they were paid to kidnap and assassinate him, but after the failed attempt on our client’s life he had a change of heart. He however, demanded for the sum of N5million from our client so that he can reveal the identity of the mastermind of the gruesome attack and also forestall further attacks on our client”
From Police report, when Chief Daniel Okafor alias Odogwu Anam was eventually arrested by the Special Anti-Kidnapping Squad of the Nigerian Police, Asaba following the confessional statement of Ifeanyi Iwuno, the State Police Headquarters witnessed a mammoth crowd who came to have a glimpse of the man believed to be very notorious and have the powers to become invisible as he was alleged to be the mastermind of several high profile cases of kidnapping, armed robbery and murder within Anambra and Delta State.
