Samuel Udoetuk Wills and John Oji (right)
A police detective has said one of the two Nigerians standing trial over the four missing girls in Takoradi in the Western Region kidnapped at least two of the victims.
Detective Inspector Peedah William Azumah of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service (GPS) in Sekondi told a Sekondi High Court yesterday that Samuel Udoetuk Wills, a key suspect in the Takoradi missing girls’ case told him (CID) that it was John Oji, another suspect, who did the kidnapping.
He said Mr. Wills had admitted to him that his co-accused kidnapped Ruth Quayson and one of the Priscillas involved, but could not state whether it was Priscilla Koranchie or Priscilla Blessing Bentum, both victims.
The police officer, who was part of the team that investigated the case involving Ruth Abekah, another victim, said Mr. Wills mentioned in his investigation caution statement that he did not directly kidnap the girls, but his close friend John Oji did.
According to the CID, who is the 21st witness in the case, Mr. Wills indicated that he did not know Ms. Abekah, let alone kidnap or kill her.
Travelling To Ghana
According to the investigator, Mr. Wills stated in the caution statement that he came to Ghana from Nigeria about eight to nine years ago and that he was a school bus driver for a secondary school at Port Harcourt.
He said when he came to Ghana he stayed in Accra for three years before moving to Takoradi from 2005 to 2017, and taught as a teacher in a preparatory school at Fijai near Sekondi, and used to stay in the area.
The CID officer quoted the accused as saying in his statement read in court that he later moved and rented a single room self-contained house at Kansaworodo near Takoradi and lived with his girlfriend called Emily Alimo.
He stated that since his stay in Ghana, he had not kidnapped any person but he was accused of the crime in December 2018.
He said on August 3 and 6, 2019, he was taken from the prison to a police station then to his former residence where he was “shown some bones of varied sizes found in the manhole where my accommodation was.
“And another one also in a well at an uncompleted building where I stayed before. The police told me that the bones were that of the girls I was suspected to have kidnapped,” Mr. Wills said in the statement.
John Oji
The police CID said Mr. Oji also stated in his investigation caution statement that he was staying with his wife, Blessing Oji, in Nigeria and he left the River State University in Nigeria in 2016.
He said he was looking for a job so he posted his Curriculum Vitae (CV) on social media.
He said one day, Mr. Wills contacted him and said he stayed in South Africa and that he could link him up for a job.
He stated that Mr. Wills later demanded money from him to help him get a job in Ghana where he had moved to.
He said somewhere in July 2017, Mr. Wills asked him to come to Ghana for the job, and when he came he realized Mr. Wills was staying with his girlfriend, so he stayed with Wills for only 12 days.
“When the job was not forthcoming, I decided to return to Nigeria, but I didn’t have money for transportation so I asked him to get me my money and in the process, a quarrel ensued,” Mr. Oji stated in his caution statement.
Far North
He told the CID that one day Mr. Wills sent him far north to Tamale, to go and collect a box from someone and warned him not to open it if he took delivery of it.
He said when he arrived he met the person who also warned him not to open the box and took him on his motorbike to the lorry station to return to Takoradi.
He indicated in his statement that two days later, Mr. Wills was angry with him, alleging that he (Oji) opened the box but he insisted he did not.
“Mr. Wills asked me to send the box back but I didn’t and went back to Nigeria,” he said in the investigations caution statement.
He added that on December 2, 2018, he returned to Ghana after Udoetuk Wills had convinced him to come for his money, claiming, “When I came, he refused to give me my money so I returned to Nigeria.”
He told the CID that in June 2019, the police lured him on WhatsApp to Benin where he was arrested.
“On August 6, 2019, the police showed me some bones taken from a well and I told them I don’t have any knowledge about the bones and that I didn’t kidnap anyone,” he said in the statement.
Cross Examination
During cross examination, Mark Bosia, the legal aid lawyer for Mr. Oji, asked the CID whether he was aware Mr. Wills had made some statement which turned out to be false.
The CID answered in the affirmative.
Sitting continues today.
From Emmanuel Opoku, Sekondi