Lagos — Kingsley Amacha, had thought the only way he could make quick money was to threaten the life of his client, an Ibadan-based successful businessman.

He was fed up with his tailoring business, which he said had not been yielding returns in recent time.

According to Ngwa, Abia State-born suspect, he seized the opportunity to exploit him when he got the mobile cell-phone number of the businessman (name withheld) from his friend, Ezenwa Iwuah, also a tailor, sewing shirts for the victim.

"When I scrolled through the 'call log' of Ezenwa's mobile set, I obtained the man's number. But Ezenwa did not know when I obtained the number and was also, not aware of my evil plan," confirmed the 34-year-old suspect.

While he claimed to be a specialist in suits making, he said Ezenwa is deft in sewing male shirts only.

He blamed his ambition on the unrewarding attention he was getting from his client.

"Also, when I got information that the man was rich, but was only being stingy, especially when it came to paying me for works done, I usually angry. He would only pay N1,500 for a suit. What really brought the idea of the threat was when he recently paid a sum of N300, 000 into Ezenwa's bank account. What Ezenwa sews is just shirts. While I took pains to make suits for him, he did not appreciate all my efforts," he offered.

Kingsley and his girlfriend, Janet, are currently being detained at the State Criminal Investigation Department (SCID), Eleyele, Ibadan, Oyo State Police Command.

Adisa Bolanta, Oyo State Police Commissioner, while commenting on their arrest, stated that the prime suspect, Kingsley had never met with the victim except through the influence of two younger brothers of Ezenwa working with the man.

The CP expressed worry how the suspect could threaten to kill the man whom had always been transacting business with him on phone and who had lived up to expectation in terms of prompt payment for the work done.

It was gathered that the suspect was based in Aba while the businessman resides in Ibadan, Oyo State capital.

Bolanta added that the command had to deploy detectives after the suspects in Aba, Abia State, following painstaking intelligence gatherings when it became obvious that the victim could no longer bear the incessant threat to his life and had to flee home and took refuge elsewhere in the ancient town, with his family members.

In a chat with Daily Independent, the suspect bared his mind on the plot and how he perfected the act.

"It began when the man (victim) built a very good business relationship with us. We had never met until last Tuesday, February 9, 2010. I was arrested in Aba and was subsequently whisked to this place (Ibadan). The man used to discuss what he wanted on phone. We would sew and send them to the man in Ibadan through one of the transporters shuttling between Aba to the ancient city of Ibadan. The last time he called and told me and Ezenwa that he needed suits and shirts and we sewed them but he told us he did not have cash on him. Instead, he requested for Ezenwa's bank account into which he later paid a sum N300,000. And it was this huge amount that really attracted and made me to conspire to extort money from the man. But before then, I had heard information about the man's wealth and investment spread. All these and others combined, lured me into the act," narrated the 34-year-old suspect.

He continued: "Having got the man's mobile number, I called and told him that someone gave me his picture for elimination. I told him I would not carry out the task only if he could send some amount of money, which would make me back out of the plot. I did not mention any amount but something worthwhile. When I expected that the man would live up to his promise at an appropriate time, and he did not, I tried another trick. I got his wife's number and called her. I think the trick worked on the woman and she worked on her husband until the man got back to me, promising to fulfill his earlier pledge. He asked me to send my account number, which I quickly obliged him. Instead, I sent him my girlfriend's bank account with Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) Plc, Aba branch. Subsequently, his wife sent me a 'short-message-service' (sms), asking me to go back to the bank and confirm if the account number I sent to her husband was correct or not. Again, she called and asked if I had gone to the bank and told her it had been confirmed to be correct. Soon afterwards, Janet, my girlfriend got an alert on her mobile set and called me that a sum of N10, 000 had been credited into her account. We both went to the bank to cash the amount with her Automated Teller Machine (ATM) card. The day fell on Saturday, February 6, 2010. I gave N2, 000 to Janet, N500 to snap passport photographs, kept N7, 000 in my travelling bag and the remaining N500 I kept at the back pocket of my trousers."

On why he refused to use his bank account, he said, "Intentionally, I wanted to cover my track. I had to convince Janet that an uncle of mine wanted to send the money to me. But when she insisted on why I did not want to use my account, I told her I had none. And that was how she obliged," he said.

On his arrest, he narrated, "That same day, Saturday, the woman called again to inform me that a sum of N100,000 had been paid into the same bank account. I was happy when I got the call and quickly, called Janet if she had gotten an alert on her mobile set if the amount had actually being credited into her account. She answered in affirmative that the amount had been credited into her account, but I never knew that, she had already been arrested by the time I called her. I asked her not to cash the amount until Monday, when I would come around but she insisted she would not be available, insisting that, she would be going to school. She asked me to come down and when I got to Ngwa Road in Aba where the ATM machine is located, I was held from behind by some plain-cloth detectives who arrested me. I saw Janet there, but I did not know she was with the detectives who had come after me. It was from there I was brought down to Ibadan," he explained.

Janet Onwuka, his girlfriend, admitted being an accomplice, but absolved herself of being privy to the plot.

The 24-year-old suspect noted that she was resistant when Kingsley demanded for her account number.

According to her, "It had been last year I called quit the relationship with Kingsley, because I wanted to concentrate on my study and pass Joint Admissions and Matriculation Examination (JAMB). My pet dream has been to study Applied Biology at Abia State University. But I was surprised when he called me last January and requested for my account number. When I asked what went wrong with his he told me he had none. On Friday, February 5, 2010, at about 2p.m. I was on my bed, sleeping when I received an alert that a sum of N10, 000 had been credited into my account. The first person I asked who could have paid into my account was my mother followed by my elder brother. They all told me they did not. The next day, Saturday, February 6, after I had returned from a hairdressing salon where I had gone to retouch my hair, in the morning I decided to call Kingsley to find out from him. He told me it might be the amount he was expecting. Without wasting time, he asked me to go to the bank and withdraw the amount so that he would come to my place later for the amount. But I told him I was sick and could not go anywhere. He, therefore, said he would come to our street so that we would go to the ATM centre together to withdraw the amount. He came as he promised and offered me N2, 000 from the money and went my own way.

"But on Tuesday, February 9, I got a call from my elder brother, Obike that he had been arrested and I should come down and meet him at Cameroon Police Station, Aba. He asked me to inform another elder brother of mine and our mother to come to the station and bail him out. And when I got to the station, I met one of the detectives who brought out an account opening form, belonging to GTB. When I went through it, it was the very account form I opened with the bank. Subsequently, the man asked whom I gave my bank account number to use, and threatened to detain me if I failed to produce the person. I craved the cooperation of the detective that I would call and ask the person to come around, and Kingsley surfaced. He was arrested when he came. And the reason my brother was arrested was that he was one of the guarantors that signed the account opening form, and he included his mobile number on the paper which the detectives used in picking him up," narrated the applicant.

The businessman, who craved anonymity corroborated, the confession of Kingsley. He disclosed he was returning from a mid-week Church service on board his car when he received a call from an anonymous caller.

"He told me that someone had been paid a sum of N700, 000 to kill me, and that he was a retired soldier and a member of a registered killer squad in the country. And that was a sheer greed. He added that he would pardon me because I am a man of God. But I asked him, what value does N700, 000 have in comparison to human lives? Since then, he had been threatening me day and night. Sincerely, I had to run away from home with my family members," offered the victim.