NEWS: FACE OF A DEVIL

■ Kills uncle’s 9-yr-old son, another 5-yr-old boy

■ Collects N.2m ransom from uncle

■ Demands N3m from second victim’s parents

■ Harvests kids’ vital organs for money ritual

Michael Nwobodo’s inordinate ambition to get rich quick has left two families in deep sorrow and anguish.

The 24-yr-old gruesomely murdered two young boys and harvested their vital organs for money making rituals. He’s a kidnapper, armed robber and ritual killer who hails from Umualaguroyi Uhueze Nenwe village in Aninri West Local Government Area of Enugu State. He committed the heinous crimes between August and October this year.

In the first incident, which occurred in Ohuhu, Abia State on August 7, 2013, he abducted Emmanuel Nwobodo, the nine-year-old son of his uncle, Nnamdi Nwobodo, immediately the boy returned from school at 4.00pm on that fateful day.

He took the boy into a nearby bush, beheaded him and proceeded to harvest his kidneys, lungs, heart and genitals.

Done with the horrible act, he calmly dumped the boy’s dismembered body on the bank of a nearby river. When evening came and the boy had still not returned from school, the parents started searching for him. Chizoba even joined in the search for the unfortunate boy. When he could not be found, his parents reported the matter to the police at Isikwuato Police Station, Abia State.

Later, Chizoba made a call to his uncle, informing him thus: “I told my uncle that I kidnapped the child at 4.00pm, that if he can pay me ransom of N300,000 I would release the child to him. He paid me N200,000. After some time, I called my uncle again and demanded another sum of N200,000. I told him to sell his land, but my uncle refused to pay the money. At the time I was demanding the money, I had already killed the child.”

On October 11, 2013, barely two months after murdering nine-year-old Emmanuel, Chizoba again abducted another child, Promise Uwakwe, a five-year-old boy as he was returning from school. This time around, he enticed the innocent boy with biscuits, dragged him into the bush and when the obviously startled boy began to scream after sensing danger, Chizoba quickly strangled him to death and then removed the boy’s vital organs.

Promise’s father, Mr Ngozi Nwakwe said the family became worried when the boy’s school uniform was found on the ground but he could not be found. After the first day, he reported to the police at Anniri Police Post and the policemen joined in the search for the child.

When the child was not found after three days, the case was transferred to the Anti-kidnapping Squad of the Enugu State Police Command. Like the well-known Otokoto ritual killing incident that occurred in 1996 in Imo State, the blood of the gruesomely murdered innocent little boys cried unceasingly before the Throne of the Almighty for justice. “It was when the suspect demanded N3 million ransom from us that we alerted the police and they rounded him up and he confessed to them that he had killed my son and removed his genitals lungs, kidneys and heart and then dumped him inside a water tank from which we recovered his corpse,” Nwakwe said in anguish.

Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abubakar Adamu who narrated Chizoba’s murderous escapades to Sunday Sun revealed that the suspect was exposed when he called Mr Nwakwe and demanded N3 million ransom for the boy. The family refused and reported to the police. CP Adamu said the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Alex Akinlalu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and his team swung into action and arrested Chizoba at his village.

In a brief chat after his arrest by the police, Chizoba told Sunday Sun “I am a kidnapper, armed robber, ritualist, artist and musician. I traveled to India in 2013 to acquire power so that anything I engage in will prosper. I spent one month and one week in India. I needed money, so I contacted a herbalist who told me that if I wanted to make money I should look for two boys and two girls between the ages of four and nine years old for money ritual.”

Continuing, he said: “I used the two boys for the ritual. I bought red candle, blue candle, black candle, white candle and other ritual materials and did some incantations after which I threw the human parts into the bush.”

Meanwhile, Mrs. Elizabeth Nwobodo, mother of Emmanuel, the first victim, is crying and calling on the government to ensure that justice is done and she has been assured by CP Adamu that the suspect would definitely be charged to court for his heinous crimes at the conclusion of investigations.