16 Sep 2011
 |
| Rodney Ogaba |
The atmosphere of grief anchored on suspense continued to define the home front of the Ogagbas, 13 days after Mr. Rodney Ogagba was kidnapped along with another lady simply identified as Belinda at the gate of his residence at Moshood Abiola (MKO) Gardens popularly known as Marwa Gardens. He is yet to be released.
A visit to his facebook page identifies him as the Chairman of Rodney’s Bureau de Change, Shipping, Clearing and Auto Sales Company, as well as Rotory International Associates Ltd.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a source disclosed that the victim was abducted on Saturday, September 4, at about 4.20am whilst the trio - Yaya and Belinda and Rodson - were returning from an overnight social outing.
According to him, Rodney had noticed that a car was trailing them and told Yaya, who was behind the wheels, to pull over so that they could find out what was happening, butYaya declined.
However, when they got to the gate of their estate, the car, a Nissan Xterra SUV, double-crossed them and four armed men jumped out of it barking out instructions to them. They were ordered out of the car and their belongings scraped off them before they shot the tyres of the Hummer SUV which Rodson and others were driving in, so as to prevent them from fleeing.
The men then took Rodney and Belinda forcibly at gun point into their own car and then drove off.The source said for three days, they were left in the dark by the kidnappers as they had no idea what step to take.
However, the case took a curious twist when the un-kidnapped Yaya went to tell Belinda’s husband of the whereabouts of his wife. THISDAY gathered that the lady’s husband promptly had Yaya arrested by the police, accusing him of having a hand in the kidnap of his wife.
After several attempts to explain that the lady was just an old school friend, Yaya was later released on bail but on the condition that he would report intermittently to the police when needed.
THISDAY gathered that Ogagba just returned from the United States of America where he resides and was planning to open his new night club right behind Sheraton, Ikeja before he was kidnapped.
In a correspondence to http://answers.travelchinaguide.com made available to THISDAY, the victim had asked for guide on how to get visa to travel to China to buy materials for his proposed club house.
According to him, “I am a United States citizen trying to establish a night club business in Nigeria. Most of the stuffs I need like tiles for floor and ceiling and disco lights are available in China.”
Writing on the husband’s facebook wall, the victim’s wife, Mrs. Tiffany Ogagba, expressed her gratitude for the immeasurable support and prayers offered for the family in their time of need. She said: “I would just like to say thank you all for your support and prayers. God will return his angel.”
Waxing philosophical, she said this should be a lesson to everybody that “we are not in control of our lives but that God is, therefore we should allow Him lead us, as we obediently just follow”.
She urged all not to relent in their prayers and goodwill for the family so that her husband could be released safe and sound to the family.
Meanwhile, on various social networks, claims have been running amok on whether the victim has been released or not. While some claimed he had been released because the family had paid the N500 million ransom demanded by the kidnappers, the family categorically stated that he is yet to be released.
Although THISDAY gathered that the kidnappers had asked for an initial ransom of N100 million, the family has been able to raise N3.5 million which was turned down by the kidnappers.
A source told THISDAY that the initial ransom offered by the family was N500, 000 then it was increased to N1 million, and then later, it went up to N2 million before the last one of N3.5 million was offered.
However, despite the huge amount of money offered by the family, the kidnappers had balked on the amount, informing the family that more work was yet to be done.
In order to raise the aforementioned amount, THISDAY learnt the family had to borrow from friends as well as general contribution and as a last resort are planning to sell some properties in order to secure the release of their loved one. But the family has encountered some difficulty even in selling off some of the property they have decided to put out for sale. Rodney’s sister lamented that would-be buyers were exploiting their desperate need for cash to under-price the property.
For instance, she said: “They are pricing Hummer jeep a million naira and a convertible Mercedes Benz purchased for N14 million is being priced N2 million”. She explained further that they had run out of cash because Rodney had “ploughed” almost all his money into the night club project.
But Rodney, who spoke with the family members for the first time last Tuesday, enjoined them to “do everything possible to enable me return from this place alive”. Speaking to THISDAY, a close relative described the victim as a great and jolly good fellow who is always ready to assist people.
Rodney hails from the Uwgbale Okojie royal family of Uromi in Edo State. He is the brother-in-law of star actresses Ini Edo, Mercy Johnson and Oge Okoye. The kidnap has made the family very cautious and has restricted them from going out with cars. Their children are: Bryanna, Rodney Jnr, Princess, Rhonda, Stephanie.
The sister pleaded with the kidnappers to release the breadwinner of the family which has been thrown into mourning because of the abduction. The family lamented the slow pace of the police in hastening the return of Rodney and Belinda.
They noted that although top police officers such as the former Inspector General of Police (IG), Sunday Ehindero, had intervened on their behalf, not much had been done.
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