parents simple but tastefully decorated
sitting room located on Ajanaku street
in Opebi area of Lagos, listening with
rapt attention to a friend who came
visiting on July 19, 2014, 34-year-old
Enero Ukonga, never envisaged he
would become the subject of a bizarre
occurrence one year later.
Ukonga, a graduate of the University of
Benin, had just returned home after
completing his Masters in Business
Administration ,MBA course in Turkey
and was making an attempt to proceed
for his PHD in the United States of
America.
But the tete-a-tete was interrupted with
the sound from a bell outside, where
one Osaretin Enabulele , accompanied
by four others identified as Elisha
Jonah, Kazeem Ibrahim, Charles
Timinnemi, a Medical student in
Romania who was on holiday and the
forth identified simply as Fred, came
visiting.
The lead man, Enabulele , an importer
who resides in Benin city, Edo state,
was said to have informed Uknonga’s
father on phone, that he was bringing
the original copy of the bill of laden of
a one by 40 feet container, to facilitate
its clearance from the Apapa Port in
Lagos. By the way, Ukonga’s father, a
retired Customs officer, is a clearing
and forwarding agent.
But that visit turned out to be the
family’s nightmare, following the
adoption of Ukonga by the visitors.
Enabulele was said to have requested
Ukonga to follow him to the car to get
the document for his father who was
then in Benin city .
Genesis of trouble
But apprehension reportedly set it after
Ukonga’s friend(names withheld)
reportedly waited in vain for his return.
Curiously, he stepped out of the house to
look for him but did not see him nor
either of the visitor. But as he looked
round, he reportedly stood still with his
mouth agape in shock, on seeing
Ukonga’s pair of slippers in a
disarrayed manner. Sensing trouble, he
reportedly put a call to Ukonga’s phone
only to discover it was switched off.
Thereafter, he contacted his father who
was in Benin city, to inform him of the
ugly development before reporting the
matter at the area ‘F’ division.
Police futile attempt
The police reportedly swung into action
but their effort proved abortive. Crime
Guard gathered the case was transferred
from area ‘’F ‘to the Special Anti
Robbery Squad , SARS for further
investigation. It was gathered that effort
to reach the main suspect , Enabulele
failed . Operatives were said to have
travelled to the suspect’s home at 4,
Ehigie street, off Aiaohan, Dumex road,
Benin city, where his girlfriend and his
brother were arrested but later released.
Preliminary investigation by operatives
of SARS revealed that the main suspect
had bolted to Ghana, following claims
by some of his friends that he called
them with a foreign number informing
that he was in Ghana. But when the
number was dialled, he reportedly did
not pick his call. Investigation at SARS,
lingered for six months without any
headway.
DSS to the rescue
Determined to unearth the mystery
surrounding his son’s whereabouts, Mr
Benjamin further lodged a complaint
with the Department of Security Service
,DSS. This action paid off, as one of the
men who reportedly visited that fateful
day was arrested in January 2015, six
months after. He is Elisha Jonah.
Jonah as gathered, was arrested mid
January, through Enero Ukuoga’s stolen
Black Berry phone. The phone was said
to have been traced to a user in Ikeja,
Lagos. By the time the user was
arrested, he told the DSS operatives that
he bought it from a friend. At the end ,
it was discovered that five persons had
used the phone, with the seller traced
to Jonah .
Jonah’s confessional statement
reportedly led to the arrest of one Kasim
Ibrahim, popularly called big daddy, on
March 17, 2015.
Enero killed, buried in shallow grave
During interrogation, the duo gave a
starling disclosure of the whereabouts of
the missing Ukonga . They revealed that
he was dead and had been buried in a
shallow grave at Abesan’s estate, Iyana
Ipaja area of Lagos, close to Kazeem’s
house.
When the cat was let out of the bag, Mr
Ukuoga reportedly lost balance and
slumped on one of the seats in the office
of the DSS. By the time he came back, he
reportedly gave a blank stare at the
suspects , apparently trying to fathom
their claim. When he managed to say a
word, he reportedly started by asking
amid tears “what on earth could have
warranted such cruel act on an innocent
person?
Case transferred to Police
At this point, the DSS reportedly
transferred the case to the Force
Criminal Investigation Department
headquarters annex in Alagbon, where
operatives at the Homicide section
reportedly led the suspects to the
shallow grave in a bush at Iyana Ipaja,
from where the body of Ukonga was
exhumed.
To say that members of the family was
devastated at the bizarre occurrence is
to put it mildly, as words could not
express the family’s mood .
Business relationship went sour
Though the discovery plunged the
family into a season of sorrow but it
brought an end to the long search for
their assumed missing son.
Asked what went wrong between Mr
Benjamin Ukonga and the importer,
Enabulele, who is still at large, the
bereaved father explained, trying hard
not to betray his emotion: “ Enabulele
was introduced to me by a family
friend. Later, he contacted me in Benin,
saying he had a one by 40 feet
container to clear. We settled for N1.5
but he paid N1 million and we started
processing the clearance. We paid the
Customs duty and other necessary
duties , remaining the shipping
company which required the original
bill of laden of the owner of the
container.
But to my surprise, he called, requesting
for the refund of his money which was
not possible because the job was 95%
concluded.
Later, he called to say he had the bill of
laden and I told him to take it to my
manager in Lagos. But because that day
was a Saturday, my Manager asked him
to drop the document at my house in
Opebi. But we later discovered he had
a sinister motive,following the adoption
of my son. My son was never into
clearing and forwarding. I was told he
even suggested they waited till Monday
to hand the document to my manager”.
We thought our son was drugged- mother
On her part, Mrs Ukonga cried
uncontrollable as she spoke with this
reporter. She started by saying that all
the while her son was declared missing,
she kept hoping he would walk in
someday. But the recent revelation
according to her has left her shattered.
Hear her: “This is an act of wickedness
in the highest order. My son was an
innocent and obedient person. He was
never a troublesome fellow. We never
believed Osaretin Enabulele could be
this callous! Ah! This is so aching ….”,
she paused to blow her nose.
Continuing , she said : “ Through out the
period we were searching for him, I
concluded they could have drugged him
and abandoned him far away and that
he could have strayed in the process”,
she paused again. But this time around,
she broke down in tears at the mere
thought that she would never leave to
see her son again.
We didn’t kill him
But when the suspects were interrogated
by operatives at Alagbon, they denied
having a hand in Ukonga’s death.
Kazeem according to police sources
said: “ We did not know how he died.
On that day, Osareti Onabulele called
Charles that he had a business deal in
Ikeja and needed some help. Charles
contacted Elisha who thereafter,
contacted me. We went there, parked a
Toyota Camry car owned by one of us,
Elisha, who is Medical student in
Romania , in front of the building. By
the time Enero was bought out of his
house into the car, Elisha was attending
to an injury I sustained on the leg.
When we got into the car, we
discovered that he(Ukonga) was
gasping”.
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