|By Adejumo Adekunle
An Akwa Ibom State High Court sitting in Uyo has sentenced a serving police corporal, Mbazigwe Chinedu Friday, and a bus conductor, Isaac Eddy Ndeesor, to death by hanging for the 2015 kidnapping of Elder Akara Johnson Mendie, Vice Principal of Community Secondary School, Nkek, in Ukanafun Local Government Area.
Delivering judgment, Justice Nsemeke Daniel convicted the duo on three counts bordering on conspiracy, kidnapping and unlawful possession of firearms, ruling that the prosecution proved its case beyond reasonable doubt.
The court heard that Mendie was abducted on July 5, 2015, at about 3:30 p.m. while returning from church with his wife and family members along Urua Akpan Udosen/Ikot Unah Road in Ukanafun.
Testifying before the court, the victim’s wife said four armed men in a Toyota Camry intercepted their vehicle, forcefully dragged her husband out and sped off. She added that the assailants seized her handbag containing vital documents, including a will, a Power of Attorney, reading glasses and a GSM phone.
Mendie told the court he was blindfolded and taken to an undisclosed location, where his captors claimed that one of his brothers had paid them N50 million to kill him. According to him, they later offered to spare his life if he could raise N25 million.
After days in captivity, negotiations commenced. On July 10, 2015, a ransom of N200,000 was eventually paid through his younger sister. He was subsequently released in Bori, Rivers State, and reported at the Bori Police Station before being conveyed back to Ukanafun by the Divisional Police Officer.
The victim’s sister recounted the tense negotiations, revealing that the kidnappers repeatedly shifted the ransom delivery points from Bayelsa to Rumuokoro, then to a trailer park in Ogoni and finally to a roundabout in Ikwerre. At the last location, three masked men on a motorcycle collected the money and fled. The following day, she received news of her brother’s release.
In his confessional statement, Friday, 41, a native of Umucha in Isiala Ngwa South Local Government Area of Abia State, admitted he was a Police Corporal attached to MOPOL 57 in Ukana, Essien Udim Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State at the time of the crime.
He told investigators that an unnamed “honourable” allegedly commissioned the abduction over claims that the victim had killed his friend. Friday admitted he used his Toyota Camry to block the victim’s car while his accomplices forcefully removed Mendie. When the Camry developed a fault, he reportedly boarded public transport to Uyo, retrieved his Volkswagen Golf and continued the operation, transporting the victim to a bush in Ogoni, Rivers State.
He acknowledged that the firearm used was not an official police weapon and that his accomplices were not officers. He also admitted he knew his actions amounted to kidnapping.
Ndeesor, a native of Ogoni in Rivers State who was about 28 at the time of the offence, confessed that they lay in wait near the victim’s residence after receiving information that he would return from church. He confirmed that Friday blocked the victim’s vehicle and that they transported him to a bush in Ogoni. He further admitted stealing and using the victim’s phone, a move that led to his arrest after security agencies tracked the device.
Following Ndeesor’s arrest by the Department of State Services, he led operatives to Friday. A search of Friday’s residence yielded a locally made revolver pistol, three rounds of 9mm live ammunition, five rounds of AK-47 ammunition, an empty AK-47 magazine, a wrap of Indian hemp, CCTV equipment, multiple GSM phones, ATM cards, SIM packs and car accessories.
Justice Daniel decried the prolonged trial, noting that the case, filed in 2016, was concluded only in 2026 — a 10-year delay he described as unacceptable.
He dismissed Friday’s claim of a frame-up, holding that his explanations were inconsistent and failed to weaken the prosecution’s case.
“How can a police officer lead a gang of kidnappers to abduct a poor victim returning from church with his wife and family?” the judge queried.
Pronouncing the sentence, Justice Daniel declared: “You shall be hanged by the neck until you be dead. May God have mercy on you.”
