The Rivers State Police Command, in collaboration with operatives of the Intelligence Response Team and the Delta State Police Command, apprehended one Peter “Daddy” Chukwu at about 5 am on April 5, 2024, in Asaba, Delta State.
PROFILE
Peter ‘Daddy’ Chukwu, a.k.a Oboni, a native of Omoku in Rivers State, was a notorious gangster whose criminal enterprise was multi-faceted, bordering on cultism, kidnapping, murder, and assassination, among other crimes. He rose to prominence in 2017 when he was made the executioner-general of the Iceland cult group in the Mgbuoshimini community of Rivers State. This role was conferred on him by the ill-famed cultist and kidnap kingpin, Johnson Igwedibia, popularly known as ‘Don Waney’, to whom he was a fierce loyalist.
Johnson Igwedibia famously recognized as Don Waney, was a notorious cult figure who instilled fear in Rivers State. His demise came at the hands of a collaborative mission involving the Nigerian Army and the State Security Service in 2018, at the border between Rivers and Imo States.
MODUS OPERANDI
Peter Chukwu built a base of operation in Mgbuoshimini, a suburb in Obio/Akpor Local Government Area in Rivers State, from where he recruited an army of young men who carried out his whims to the letter. With a massive following of cultists behind him, he launched a syndicate that served as assassins for hire, armed robbers, and gun runners.
He always had a hit list that included persons who had offended or challenged him, those he considered a threat and those he had been paid to assassinate. Such was the nature of his villainous mind that at the mentioning of his name, people trembled.
WHY HE WAS DECLARED WANTED
As his acclaim grew, he became a menacing presence in the community and began wreaking havoc indiscriminately. On May 6, 2017, he murdered the secretary of the Rumueme Council of Chiefs, Chief Minikwu Chukwu, and one Jaja Optimist while they were gathering for a routine town meeting. Within the same month, he executed another community leader, Chief Mgbor.
He continued his onslaught on those he had earmarked for destruction, and on July 30, 2017, Baridule Cletus Dunle was shot dead, while on October 4, 2017, Godspower Aligbo and Dickson Gogo-Jaja had their lives snuffed out by his men.
On October 9, 2017, at about 3 am, he and his gang attacked the abattoir area of the Mgbuoshimini community and murdered 22 people in cold blood, burning some of their victims alive. This act caused the Police to declare him, and eight (8) others wanted. Consequently, he fled the community and went into hiding. He, however, resurfaced in 2023 and began another reign of terror. He set up another base in Mgbuoshimini as his previous base had been demolished after the crises that followed the massacre he perpetrated in 2017.
On his return, he arrogated himself the position of chief adjudicator in the community and would frequently force people with disputes to appear before him. On one such occasion on January 2, 2023, he seized two residents of the community, Sunny Amadi and Victor Alabo, who he alleged had stolen phones. They were promptly brought before him, and subjected to torture through binding and severe beatings. He then proceeded to use a razor to chop off their ears.
Two days after the mutilation of the two men, on January 4, 2023, he invited Grace Asuquo to appear before him because he had received reports that she had stolen a phone. She did not honour his invitation for fear of his irrationality, which offended him. He commanded his boys to arrest her and bring her before him. When she was brought before him, he tortured her for a long time, eventually murdering her. He dumped her lifeless body in front of her father’s compound.
Peter ‘Daddy’ Chukwu was also complicit in assassinations for hire. His gang was contracted to assassinate one Victor Golor, and in two attempts on December 12, 2023, and January 6, 2024, they failed to exterminate the target. However, on the 6th of March 2024, they succeeded in detonating explosives at the target’s hotel after installing a digital Apple tracker in his Toyota Hilux truck. Such was his sophistication that he had a network of informants at his beck and call and used tracking devices to tail potential victims.
POLICE ACTION
‘Daddy’ became an item of deep interest to Tunji Disu, the current commissioner of police, Rivers State Police Command, when, on the 13th of January, he and his murderous band shot and killed the Community Development Council (CDC) Chairman of Mgbuoshimini, Ndidi Livingstone, as he was stepping out of the auditorium of Peculiar Faith Ministries, Rumueme after a church service. After the dastardly act, they sped off in a waiting black SUV which the police have now recovered.
The notorious gangster killed the CDC chairman because he collaborated with other stakeholders in establishing a local vigilante group known as OSPAC, aimed at safeguarding the community.
During a visit to the widow and family of the slain community leader, the Commissioner of Police, Rivers State, CP Olatunji Rilwan Disu, directed a nationwide manhunt for the killers. Thus, an extensive search for them began. The manhunt narrowed when investigations and intelligence revealed that Peter ‘Daddy’ Chukwu was the mastermind behind the killings.
After learning of the location of his hideout, on March 16, 2024, at about 1 a.m., operatives of a special task force of the Rivers State Police Command, comprising of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) and operatives of the state command, attempted to arrest him. The suspect narrowly escaped by bursting through the ceiling and roofing sheets of the hotel, where he was cornered. He later jumped into a nearby compound and ran off, evading arrest.
In his scramble to escape, he left behind his personal effects, including a hit list containing names of his next victims and other vital documents and gadgets that gave the Police a clear picture of the extent of sophistication he operated with. This necessitated the urgency in arresting the notorious criminal.
Following his close shave with the authorities, he fled to Asaba in Delta State. He remained in hiding before returning briefly to Port Harcourt, where he boasted about his invincibility and the power of his charms. He returned to Delta, where he began plotting to kill the investigating police officers and to launch attacks on police facilities to free his arrested associates.
Undeterred by the notorious gangster’s initial escape, on April 5, 2024, around 4 am, a coordinated team launched an assault on his hideout. The team, comprising the Rivers State Command Tactical Team and the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), advanced to Delta to locate the criminal’s hideout. With support from the Delta State Commissioner of Police, operatives from the command joined the conclusive operation, resulting in the neutralisation of the suspect following a fierce operation.
He was tracked down and apprehended in Ibusa, Delta State, and found in a herbalist’s home where he sought spiritual fortification. Upon realising the presence of security forces surrounding the premises, Peter Daddy Chukwu fiercely resisted and attempted to flee. He put up a fierce resistance, and in an attempt to escape, he was fatally wounded and succumbed to the injury before arriving at the hospital.
Efforts are currently in top gear to arrest all his associates and sponsors.
