By Ozioruva Aliu
WHEN Governor Monday Okpebholo was sworn-in on November 12, 2024, he was said to have confided in a close aide that there were two things he detested and would not allow them fester in Edo State: Thugerry and cultism.
Closely related to this was kidnapping and other violent crimes.
To show that he was prepared to check these challenges, Okpebholo approached the state House of Assembly to strengthen the anti-cultism and anti-kidnapping laws which now provide that any building linked to kidnapping and cultism would be demolished while convicted kidnappers would face the death penalty.
To make justice seamless and devoid of bureaucratic encumbrances, the governor approached the Chief Judge of the state to dedicate a court to the two issues of kidnapping and cultism.
The test of the resolve of the governor against kidnappers and cultism happened on the morning of Sunday, June 14, 2026 when, in broad daylight at the popular Vegetable Market off Airport Road, dare-devil kidnappers, operating in a pepper red Lexus Jeep, alighted from their vehicle, shot the tyres of a parked Toyota Highlander to kidnap the occupant.
The owner of the vehicle escaped but his wife was not lucky as the kidnappers went away with her.
The video of the incident went viral on social media courtesy of a CCTV in a building opposite the area where the incident happened.
With marching orders from Okpebholo and the Inspector General of Police, four suspects, including a female, were arrested a few days after in connection with the incident and they became the first test of the courts dedicated to kidnapping and cultism.
Barely four months after the investigation and prosecution started, the four suspects, namely, Marvelous Isaac, Wisdom Michael, Rufus Emete Michael and Gift Rachael, the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Defendants, were found guilty of the Vegetable Market kidnap and three others in different parts of the state and capital and also being members of a secret cult, and sentenced to death by hanging or by lethal injection.
The charge sheet was marked CD/S/06C/2026 between the state and four Defendants.
The judgment was delivered on September 29, 2026 by Justice A. T. Momodu.
It took Momodu over three hours, 30 minutes to deliver his judgment during which he attributed the success recorded by the prosecution to the CCTV in the opposite building and advised that there should be a deliberate effort to install them in business areas, public and even homes.
He said the prosecution called seven witnesses while seven exhibits tendered in the trial of kidnapping, armed robbery, illegal possession of firearms, conspiracy, and membership of a secret cult among others.
“I wish to place on record my profound appreciation to the private citizen whose CCTV captured the scene of the Vegetable Market kidnapping incident”, the trial judge said.
“That singular act of installing CCTV in his premises provided evidence which assisted the police in the detection and proof of the crime that took place at the Vegetable Market, I commend him.
“In this age where crime has become sophisticated, I encourage all residents of Edo State to endeavour to acquire and install CCTV cameras in their homes, shops, vehicles and business premises”.
One of the highlights of the case was that the kidnappers demanded N130 million ransom from their victims’ families but got about N60 million before they met their waterloo.
Evidence
The prosecution said it was the June 14 footage of a video captured by a close circuit camera that went viral on the social media that captured the precise moment of the abduction at the Vegetable Market.
It said the police deployed their tactical intelligence and arrested the 1st defendant on June 17 and he led detectives to their criminal hideout beside Awuze Hotel and Bar off Ekehuan Road, Benin City, where one Precious exchanged gunfire with the police.
Precious was reportedly arrested with gunshot injuries and later died at the Police Hospital Benin-City.
He was said to be the Chief Security Officer of his community.
The 2nd Defendant, 3rd Defendant and 4th Defendant were arrested on June 20 at different locations in Edo and Delta states.
Justice Momodu said when information got to the members of the public that the suspected persons who carried out the kidnap at the Vegetable Market had been arrested, persons who claimed to have fallen victim surfaced at the police station.
According to him, the 1st Prosecution Witness, who was the female victim kidnapped at the Vegetable Market, testified that she knew all the offenders.
She said that on their way to the forest, they picked up a lady who joined them in the vehicle whom she positively identified as the 4th Defendant.
The victim said her eyes were blindfolded and was later released on Wednesday morning.
“The kidnappers, whilst armed with guns, took her watch, earrings and hand chain worth over N15 million”, the judge said.
“Under cross examination, the PW1 testified amongst others that, in her statement to the police, she stated that she knew the four Defendants and the various roles they played. “She recognised them as they were not masked when they kidnapped her. She also stated, in her statement to the police, the items that were taken from her and that they are worth over N15 million.
The 2nd Prosecution Witness, who was the victim whose jeep they used in the Vegetable Market kidnap, testified that he knew the 1st- 4th Defendants.
“On April 23, he was kidnapped from his wife’s shop and taken to the bush with his car by some gunmen and held captive for five days”, Momodu said.
“The kidnappers initially asked for N30 million as ransom, but was negotiated to N5.5 million which was paid by his family before he was released on April 28 but his Lexus 350 jeep was not given to him as the kidnappers retained it in their possession before they were eventually caught by the police.”
The witness stated that three boys and a lady kidnapped him and took him to the bush.
He further testified that after they released him, his car remained in their possession for about a month and two weeks.
According to him, he was called by a friend that the police arrested some people with a red Lexus jeep and that he should go and verify if it was his car.
“At the police station, after checking the chassis number on the vehicle with his car documents, he discovered that it was his car”, the judge said.
The 3rd Prosecution Witness testified that he knew the 1st – 4th Defendants.
On May 26 at about 8.30pm, he was kidnapped at Ekehuan Road, by GT Bank Benin City. According to him, he stopped to say hello to his friend and barely five minutes after they exchanged pleasantries, a red Lexus 350 Jeep parked beside where his friends parked their cars.
He was sitting beside the road but his friends saw two boys came down from the jeep armed with a gun and shot in his direction and they all ran.
“He was shot at the second time; they caught him and blindfolded him. They laid him down at the back of the jeep with a gun pointed at his head as he was begging for his life.
“They drove for hours till they got to a thick forest and demanded N100 million ransom”.
He said the kidnappers called his office, family and friends and that, after negotiation, his family and friends paid N12.47 million ransom including the N35,000 cash which they removed from his pocket to the kidnappers, adding that “on May 30, in the early hours of the morning, still blindfolded, the kidnappers dropped him off with the same Lexus 350 jeep and found his way home”.
According to him, after he was kidnapped, on their way, the kidnappers made a call to a certain girl who they instructed to wait for them at the junction, that they would pick her up from there, which they eventually did.
“The girl is the 4th Defendant who was equally with the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants in the bush”. The ransom was delivered to the kidnappers by his wife at Utagbon area, off Ekehuan road and they even used the same Lexus 350 jeep to collect the ransom.”
The 4th Prosecution Witness said the 1st Prosecution Witness is his wife and he knew all the defendants and that he witnessed the incident that happened at the Vegetable Market.
According to him, he had just closed from church, alongside his wife and their children waiting for a trader to bring what they ordered for when kidnappers came out from the Lexus jeep and shot at the tyre of his car.
He was able to escape and ran to nearby Aideyan Police Station.
The witness said that his wife ran too but they ran after her and took her away.
He positively identified the four kidnappers who, according to him, were armed with pump action guns and dressed in black.
He said the lady (4th Defendant) was the one who came to collect N12 million ransom at off Akenzua Close and that the 4th Defendant came with the 1st Defendant at the occasion.
The 5th Prosecution Witness testified that she knew the 1st-4th Defendants, saying that on March 8 whilst at a junction around No 12, Oreoghene, Off Siluko, Benin-City, “suddenly one white vehicle blocked my vehicle, one of the kidnappers shot at my vehicle tyre while others dragged me out of my vehicle and pushed me inside the vehicle they came in and zoomed off.”
The kidnappers blindfolded her and drove her to an unknown destination.
On getting to the destination, she saw the other gang members whom she could identify.
While in their captivity, she said they beat her up mercilessly.
She stated that she was with them for five days before her family raised N25 million ransom and, after collecting the money, the gang leader handed her over to another set of kidnappers, who also relocated and held her for another six days.
According to her, she was with them in the creek before they released her after collecting another ransom of N5 million from her family members.
She said that the total money her family members paid the kidnappers was N30 million.
The 6th Prosecution Witness, a police officer attached to Aideyan Police Station, Benin-City, gave evidence to the effect that on June 14, the husband of the woman kidnapped at the Vegetable Market reported the case at the police station after he narrowly escaped.
She said that she recorded a statement from him and a team of detectives with Patrol 05 was dispatched to the scene, where two empty shells of expended cartridges were recovered.
She said the victim’s car was recovered at the station for safe keeping.
The 7th Prosecution Witness was the Investigating Police Officer (I.P.O) who said he had investigated several cases of kidnapping and cultism before.
According to him, sequel to the viral video regarding the kidnapping incident that took place on June 14 at the Vegetable Market, Benin-City, which surfaced on social media, detectives from Force Headquarters, led by CSP Idaba Peters, arrested the 1st Defendant on the June 17, saying he led the police to their hideout beside Awuze Hotel and Bar, off Ekehuan Road, Benin-City.
He said the 1st Defendant confessed that he was the gang leader of the four armed men that kidnapped at the Vegetable Market and that he had been into kidnapping for ransom for more than three years and he usually borrowed guns from the CSO of the Ureghin Community known as Liberty (Precious).
The 1st Defendant, according to him, further confessed that he led the late Precious and the second defendant to the kidnap of one of the victims and collected a ransom of N12.5 million from his family members.
The IPO said the 1st Defendant also confessed being a member of a secret cult, known as Eiye Confraternity.
He narrated: “The 1st Defendant did confess that he escaped from the Correctional Centre, Benin-City during the EndSARS protest in 2020.
“That his first kidnapping with the syndicate was the kidnap of the owner of one Lexus 350 SUV and his share of the ransom collected was N450, 000.
“The 1st Defendant further confessed that his second kidnapping with the syndicate was when they kidnapped one man along Ekehuan Road, and his share from the ransom was N1 million. “He also admitted that his third kidnapping with the syndicate was when they kidnapped a woman at Vegetable Market in Benin-City and his share of the ransom of N12 million collected was N1.5 million.”
Justice Momodu, in his judgment, said except the 4th Defendant, the case of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Defendants was a total denial of the charge against them.
He said: “In count I, you, Marvelous Isaac, is hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
“In counts II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, and IX, you, Marvelous Isaac, is hereby sentenced to death by hanging or through the administration of lethal injection.
“You shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.
“In count X, you, Marvelous Isaac, is hereby sentenced to 10 years imprisonment.
“In count XI, you, Marvelous Isaac, is hereby sentenced to life imprisonment.”
For the 2nd Defendant, he said: “In count I, you Wisdom Michael, is hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
“In counts II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and IX, you, Wisdom Michael, is hereby sentenced to death by hanging or through the administration of lethal injection.
“You shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”
For the 3rd Defendant, he said, “In count I, you, Rufus Emete Michael, is hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
“In counts II, III, VI and VII, you, Rufus Emete Michael, is hereby sentenced to death by hanging or through the administration of lethal injection.
“You shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”
For the 4th Defendant, Justice Momodu said, “In count I, you, Gift Raphael, is hereby sentenced to seven years imprisonment.
“In counts II, IV, VI, VII and VIII, you, Gift Raphael, is hereby sentenced to death by hanging or through the administration of lethal injection.
“You shall be hanged by the neck till you are dead. May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”
He ordered that all the exhibits made up of a Jojef pump action gun and two unexpended cartridges and two expended cartridges be confiscated to the Federal Government of Nigeria and are to be handed over to the Edo State Armourer of the Nigeria Police, State C.I.D. Edo State headquarters by the Deputy Director of the Criminal Division of the High Court for destruction within days.
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