A 23-year-old Electrical Engineer and a web site developer, Franklyn Onoaghakpote, on Sunday gave a chilling account of his near-death ordeal in the hands of some suspected kidnappers in Benin city allegedly led by a middle aged man simply identified as Michael.
Onoaghakpote in a petition addressed to the , dated 11th February, 2022 and titled “A case of Conspiracy and Kidnapping Against one Michael and Others”, said valuables worth N20m were lost to the kidnappers.
Giving details of his experience, he told journalists in Benin that he was beaten and abducted to a popular Hotel and Lounge along Okhoro Street in Benin City where he was brutalized for several hours.
“I am into web development. I own a programming company called FJM Creative Developer World.
“On the 10th of February 2022, the said Michael requested to see me concerning a website I developed for him two years ago but when I got there, I waited for him only for him to appear with about 20 boys who abducted me with guns.
“They blind folded me, tied my hands and took me to an uncompleted building where they started beating me and forcefully took valuables from me.
Among the items are: Samsung S21 Ultra with IMEI No: 3502999442734 93/352817864273496, Iphone 6, my bank transfer PIN and Transferred the sum of N4,900,000.00, (four million, Nine Hundred Thousand Naira) from my GT Bank Account to a Polaris Bank Account, $15,000 worth of bitcoin, Gold Necklace and hand chain.
“They took me to a River, stripped me naked and started beating me again. After the beating, they blindfolded me again, took me to a room where I was kept for seven hours and called my parents for a ransom of N16 million that if my parents refuse to pay the money they will kill me.
Ojelabi, the publisher of Freelanews, is an award winning and professionally trained mass communicator and a recipient of the D9112 Superstar Icon Award, who writes ruthlessly about pop culture, religion, politics and entertainment.
