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 Daniel 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 on the charge of conspiracy to commit a felony to wit; kidnapping, punishable under section 516 of the Criminal Code Law Cap C21 Volume I, Laws of Delta State, 2006. He was also found guilty on the count of attempted kidnap and was sentenced to a total of 11 years imprisonment with hard labour. The Asaba Court sentenced the accused to 5 years imprisonment on the count of conspiracy to kidnap and 6 years imprisonment on the count of the attempted kidnap of the Asaba based industrialist. The Court, however, discharged and acquitted the accused on the charge of attempted murder.
It would be recalled that Odogwu Anam 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 Chief John Ucheche on or about the 16th day of January, 2013 at Asaba within the Asaba Judicial Division. Ifeanyi Iwuno now at large, during Police interrogation admitted being part of the armed gang that attempted to kidnap the Asaba based industrialist, Chief John Ucheche, and fingered Chief Daniel Okafor, popularly known as Odogwu Anam as the one who sent them on the mission.
It was reported that after the failed attempt to kidnap him, the victim petitioned the State Commissioner of Police through his lawyer wherein he stated that his assailants were also on a mission to kill him as they fired gun shots at him which penetrated 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.
