…They called me Olu Jacobs and threatened to sell our parts to mallams
By BENJAMIN NJOKU
Fans and colleagues of Chief Priest of Nollywood Amb. Clemson Cornell, popularly known as Agbogidi and actress Cynthia Okereke heaved a sigh of relief days back when the two actors returned home unhurt after spending about seven nights of nightmare and horror in the den of kidnappers.
The actors were abducted by a gang of four men on the 27th of July, while returning home from a film shoot in Ozalla town, in Enugu State. But the news of their sudden disappearance hit the internet on the 29th of July, after their family members raised an alarm, confirming they didn’t return home from the movie shoot. However, two days later, their abductors contacted their family members, demanding $100,000 as ransom.
But for the timely intervention of the leadership of the Actors Guild of Nigeria, AGN, who swung into action to save their members, the actors probably wouldn’t have lived to tell their stories. But fortunately, they regained their freedom days after their abduction following public outcry and outright condemnation of the act from all quarters. In this exclusive online interview with our reporter, Amb. Clemson Cornell, popularly known as Agbogidi, following his native doctor role in movies, shares his horrible experience in the hands of his kidnappers.
How it happened
On that fateful day being 27th of July, 2022, we finished our movie shoot which was somewhere in Ozalla town, in Nkanu Local Government Area of Enugu State. They call the place 4-Corner along the Enugu-Port-Harcourt Expressway. That fateful day was the last day of my shoot.
The production belonged to an independent producer, Rev. father, Nonso Maduka. I was starring in the film alongside Chiwetalu Agu among other actors. Chiwetalu Agu was on set on that day when I finished my own beat alongside Cynthia Okereke.
We rounded off on set some minutes after 7pm and headed home. For the fact that I didn’t drive to the place, I joined Cynthia Okereke, who came with a flashy SUV. We zoomed off, leaving behind other cast and crew of the production. When we joined the Expressway heading to Enugu from Zalla, we missed our way somewhere around Naira Triangle, that’s the NNPC mega Filling Station on the road.
However, before approaching the filling station, we ought to have taken the fly over ,leading to Gariki, where Cynthia was heading to, and where I would also have taken a car to Trans-Ekulu, my destination. Unfortunately, we missed our way along the line, and had to stop to make inquiries from passers-by. We saw a shuttle bus, and decided to flag down the driver to make an inquiry.
The driver actually confirmed that we had missed our way, and advised us to reverse , which we did. Shortly after we reversed , unknown to us that some group of guys were watching us. I noticed a few minutes later that a car was coming too close to ours, and before we could say Jack Robinson, the white-coloured small car overtook our car and double-crossed it.
At that point, Cynthia had no choice than to hit the car. That was the kidnappers’ desperate move to stop us, and when the incident happened, they alighted from the car and ordered Cynthia to alight from the Jeep, muttering that she had the guts to hit their car. Everything was happening almost at the same time. I was wondering who the guys could be. They were a gang of four bandits, and while this was happening, they released three gunshots into the air to scare people away and perhaps, warn incoming vehicles. When I heard the gunshots, I knew we were in for it. And that was when I calmed down and started taking instructions from them. . .
After they forced Cynthia to alight, the car was rolling gradually, and their supposed leader was ordering me to apply the brake. But I told myself I wasn’t the person driving the car. At that point, one of them jumped into the car and took over the steering, forcing Cynthia to sit at the back, where she was sandwiched with two hefty guys. I sat in the front seat. Before we knew what was happening, they ordered us to face down while blind folding us. Their leader was the person driving their small car, while the other three bandits joined us in Cynthia’s Jeep. The incident happened about 7.30pm to 8 pm. That was the only thing I could recollect.
Journey to the unknown destination
On the way to the unknown destination, they were always hitting my head, warning me never to look up. I told them how I could possibly look up when I have been blind-folded. By my imagination, my eyes were tied but my ears were not blocked. I could sense that we were still driving on the expressway, covering about 10 to 14 miles from the point where we were abducted. But before we veered off the road, the leader of the gang called one of them on the telephone and asked them to stop. When they did, he told them that he was not comfortable with me continuing to occupy the front seat.
He therefore demanded they move me to the small car. I alighted from the jeep and was waiting for the last order, before they now resolved I should sit at the back alongside Cynthia, where we were sandwiched between two armed guys. Thereafter, we continued our journey. From the beginning, they recognized Cynthia Okereke because of her roles in movies. They even called her name. But they were unable to recognize me that night because of the way I dressed. Contrary to my native doctor role in movies, where I usually look older than my age.
On that night, I looked like a yo-pie, wearing a short jersey with a face-cap to match. However, after a while, they veered off the road and that was when I noticed that the ambiance of the city bustling had started diminishing as we journeyed into the forest. You can imagine what was going through my mind! I said to myself, God here I come, wondering if this is the way I was going to end my life.
Inside the kidnappers’ den
Eventually, the car stopped in the middle of the forest, they brought us out of the car because we were blind folded. They guided us until we got to a point where we climbed a place like the bacon of a house, and immediately a door opened and we were ushered into a room.
They commanded us to sit down, while I was attempting to do so, my back mistakenly hit the door and they quickly moved me out of the door, forcing me to sit on the cemented floor. After a while, I noticed a flash of light, when they started smoking and the smell of weed in the whole room. Cynthia sat at one corner of the room far from where I was. So, they left the room and I noticed that they padlocked it from outside. I said all kinds of prayers in my mind and thereafter resigned to fate,
I am an ardent catholic. So, during this ordeal I had my rosary on my neck. Even as I speak now, my rosary is on my neck. So, after a while, I heard the door open in the middle of the night and they lit a candle. We could feel the reflection of the light. Before now, they collected all our phones and switched them off to sustain the suspense before switching them on again.
So, they were coming in and going out of the room. But they finally locked the door, I managed to shift the cloth used in tying my eyes to see where we were. I noticed it was a rented apartment, there was a foam on the floor and a carpet demarcating Cynthia from where I was squatting. When they came back again , they asked us to start thinking of who would bail us.
The following day, they came to interview us. One of them asked for my name. I told them that my name is Clem Nonyere, which many people don’t know. Some called me Olu Jacobs. Suddenly, they unbound me and asked me to open my eyes. I tried not to look at their faces, but they said ‘even if you look at our faces, you can never see us again’. I told them that I am not anywhere close to Olu Jacobs both in age and in stature. More so, Olu Jacobs is in his early 80s, while I am still in my 60s. They went into their operation room and started opening our phones. They later came back to ask who is Agbogidi of Nollywood? At that point, I started apologizing to them, saying it’s my nick name. They asked again, are you not the Chief Priest of Nollywood?
Do you think we don’t know you? We dey watch movies too, You have always been the best. You interpret this role of a Chief Priest very well. In fact, you are the juju master. Do you think you can dribble us? One of them asked me if I knew my net-worth. I was sure they went online to read my profile. I pretended as if I didn’t know what they were talking about.
On Cynthia’s part, they discovered that her son is based abroad. They asked her to call him so that he could send dollars to release her. But she told them that she doesn’t have her son’s phone number. They shouted at her, wondering how she would not have her son’s phone number.
Honestly, it’s not funny. This is an experience I cannot wish for even my worst enemy. For the first day and second day, we were not given neither food nor water to drink. At this point, I talked to my system to better adapt to the situation I found myself in. It was the third day that they managed to give us something water to drink so that we wouldn’t die before they collected the ransom. Later, they gave us one small okpa each to hold our stomach as well as Lucozade boost to drink. We were in their den until the 7th day after supplying them with the names of the people to contact. They released us on the 3rd of August.
Threats of selling our parts to mallams
On day 7 of our abduction, they threatened that they would invite the mallams to buy our parts. That they would cut us into pieces us and sell to them. I said anyhow, if God allows that, go ahead and do what pleases you. But they didn’t manhandle us. In fact, I was not hurt in any way, but the emotional trauma and change of hormones of my being was what actually affected me. We were smuggled into the place as contra-band goods. While we were leaving, I don’t know what compromise they reached with our people. I am not aware if any ransom was paid.
On the day of freedom
On the day of regaining our freedom, they just told us that we were leaving today. And that was in the morning but they waited till nightfall when they whisked us away. They waited for people to go to sleep before moving us out of the place. I wonder if they have neigbours because they smuggled us in and out of the place with our eyes still tied. They led us to their waiting car and told us that our car is safe and currently with the police.
They said they took the jeep back to the place they abducted us and that when we regain our freedom we should go for the car. When we entered the car we didn’t know where we were heading to, until we got to a place close to Gariki in Enugu, where they asked us to alight from the car. When we did, they abandoned us at an isolated place close to the Enugu Expressway and gave us N500 each as our transport fees. They returned our phones even though they had collected all the money from us. They also returned my c rosary which they forcefully removed from my neck and in the process had it damaged. I cried to Mother Mary for that rosary… That’s our story
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