Gory & Thrilling: The Incredible Story of Kidnapper Kingpin, Henry Chibueze AKA ‘Vampire’
On Saturday, February 16, 2013, Henry Chibueze,
A Notorious Kidnapper Terrorizing South East And South South Parts Of The Country, Stormed TheHome Of His Girlfriend, Sandra Ijedinma, At
Igando Area Of Lagos State, With An AK47
Assault Rifle And Opened Fire On Everyone
Present In The Apartment, Killing His Girlfriend,
Her Elder Sister Praise Ozor, And Her Two
Children. Not satisfied, Henry proceeded to a nearby street where one of Sandra’s elder sisters resided and killed the woman and three of her children, before fleeing.
His anger was said to have been that Sandra,
who was an optician with Madonna University,
had called off their relationship, when she learnt
that he was a kidnapper. Sandra’s twin sister,
Katherine who sustained a bullet would during the attack had told vanguard in 2013 that the
assailant was familiar with everyone in their
family but nobody knew he was a kidnapper . She explained that her late sister used to visit Henry at his base in Delta State and in one of such visits, some heavily armed men stormed Henry’s apartment, manhandling Sandra in the process.
She added that the armed men reportedly told
Sandra that her lover absconded with their share
of a ransom paid to them for one of their
kidnapping exploits, threatening to wipe out all
his (Henry’s) family members if he did not pay
them. Thereafter, Sandra informed her family
members in Lagos of what had happened and
they rushed to Delta State to bring her to Lagos
for proper treatment. But while she was receiving
the treatment, she called off the relationship and
Henry; feeling betrayed, stormed their Lagos
home and killed people while Katherine narrowly
escaped death.
The police in Lagos went all out in search of
Henry. Vanguard gathered that operatives of the
Special Anti-Robbery Squad, SARS, who were
then headed by Sp Abba Kyari, trailed him to
Abia, Delta and Rivers State, where they rounded
up some of his close friends, relatives and seven
members of his gang who were behind the kidnap of a British national, Diction Lee, few minutes after the Briton arrived at the country. They kidnapped him on Airport Road, Ikeja. At that point, it was established that Henry had escaped from the country and was based in Ivory Coast.
But while the search for him went cold in Lagos,
Henry, was said to have regrouped with his gang
in Imo State and they coordinated several
kidnappings in the South East and South South,
where he kidnapped over 200 persons, killing
most of his victims, including the wife of a royal
father in Imo State and an official of the Imo
State Environmental Transformation Commission which yielded him N50m ransom.
However, luck ran out on him, last weekend,
when he attempted to kidnap the tribunal Judges, handling Election Petition in Imo State, at their lodge, in Disney Hotels, along Onitsha -Owerri Road. Operatives of the Department of State Security, DSS, acting On a tip-off swooped on him, but he managed to escape with bullet
wounds which he had gone to treat in the house
of his elder brother’s wife, in Ohafia, Abia State,
where men of the secret police eventually
apprehended him.
Some Of The Victims During Shooting Spree
He was arrested along side an army deserter,
Akeem Bello, from Kwara State, who abandoned
his duty post at Maiduguiri where he was posted.
Fear of the activities of the Boko Haram sect
probably informed his action. A native doctor, Dan Elengi, who is said to be the proprietor of a
popular hotel at Ohii in Owerri Local Government
Area, of Imo State was also among those nabbed.
The 28-year-old man, who is an indigene of
Nwangele Local Government Area of Imo State,
confessed when he was paraded before the Imo
State Governor Rochas Okorocha , that he
operated from Abidjan, Cote d’ Ivoire and he killed his girl friend and members of her family because she stole his N45million, after he had opened a shop for her in Aba.
Meanwhile, relatives of his victims have been
thrown into celebration following news of his
arrest. They called on the Imo State Government
to ensure that Henry who is also known as
Vampire is prosecuted judiciously. Ekene Ozor, the husband of one of Sandra’s sisters who was
killed on the day of the attack wants Henry to pay
for his crimes. “That man is evil. He robbed me of
my wife and two children and robbed my in-laws
of eight members of their family.
Henry Chibueze
But my God told me that he would not escape
judgment. I am grateful to God for his arrest and I
commend the efforts of the Nigeria police
especially, the Special Anti Robbery Squad SARS,
Lagos State Police Command, who first handled
my case, the DSS operatives for their continued
efforts to apprehend this heartless criminal. I
wish to commend also the governor of Imo State
Rochas Okorocha, for his efforts in the arrest of
the deadly gang of killers. Days after the attack
on my home were highly traumatic. I had seven
corpses to deal with at a time and they were all
in the mortuary. I was the only one taking care of
my remaining children and I passionately wish to appeal to governors Rochas Okorocha, Ifeanyi Okowa, Akinwumi Ambode and other governors in the federation and well meaning Nigerians to come to my aid as I feel very concerned about the education of my remaining children and their welfare.
Things have tough for me, my little children. We
are still having the psychological pain of the
attack of Henry. We have been haunted by the
fear of another attack by the serial killer. There
have been fears of going out freely because of the horrifying threats from the serial killer and his
cohorts. Consequently, I’m indebted to the tune of N7.2 million excluding properties sold to meet up with bills, drugs, surgery of my wife’s younger
sister who survived gun shots. It is by grace of
God that I am still alive because it made me
hypertensive since then.”
