Notorious kidnapper Kelvin, who abducted Mike Ozekhome in 2013, gets reduced jail term

A criminal

Kelvin Oniarah Ezigbe, a convicted kidnapper who abducted Mike Ozekhome, senior advocate of Nigeria (SAN), in 2013, has had his jail term reduced under the presidential pardon announced by President Bola Tinubu.

Ezigbe was among the 175 persons who recently received a presidential pardon and other forms of clemency following the approval of the national council of state.

Bayo Onanuga, special adviser to the president on information and strategy, said in a statement on Saturday that the 20-year prison term of Ezigbe was reduced to 13 years “for showing remorsefulness and attending the National Open University”.Before his arrest in 2013, Ezigbe was a notorious criminal who terrorised Delta state and its environs, especially the people of Kokori in Ethiope east LGA.

He had executed high-profile kidnappings like the abduction of Ozekhome alongside his driver on August 23, 2013, at the Ehor stretch of the Benin-Auchi highway, Edo state.

Four police officers who responded to Ozekhome’s abduction were ambushed and killed by Ezigbe’s team.

His gang was reportedly responsible for the abduction of Hope Eghagha, a former commissioner of higher education in Delta, in September 2012 while driving from Warri to Asaba.

Eghagha’s police orderly was killed during the attack.

His men also killed two prison officials in Delta while in a vehicle with some arrested members of the gang.