What was supposed to be a romantic Valentine’s Day turned into a real-life nightmare for 35-year-old Emeka Nwogu, after discovering his longtime girlfriend masterminded a brutal attack and robbery against him — with the help of her younger brother and a cult gang.
Emeka had planned a relaxing Valentine’s celebration with his 25-year-old girlfriend, complete with a hotel stay along Ago Palace Way, Lagos. But unbeknownst to him, the woman he had loved and trusted for four years had other plans — and they weren’t romantic.
The drama unfolded the next day when the couple decided to grab a bite at a restaurant nearby. Mid-meal, she insisted they return to the hotel, claiming she needed to freshen up. Emeka, though puzzled when they passed their actual stop, followed her lead. Moments later, he found himself ambushed at another bus stop.
A group of armed men — wielding axes and guns — dragged them into a deserted area within a nearby estate. Emeka was brutally beaten and tortured before being forced to unlock his crypto accounts on Bitcoin, Binance, and Trust Wallet. The attackers made away with three phones and a whopping $9,700 (approximately N15.5 million) in digital assets.
Shaken and bloodied, Emeka and his girlfriend dashed to the nearest police station to file a report. But things took a shocking twist.
At the crime scene, a security guard quietly informed officers that he had seen one of the attackers frequently hanging around Emeka’s girlfriend. Suspicion immediately shifted, and after interrogation, she broke down and confessed: it was an inside job.
Fueled by jealousy over Emeka’s WhatsApp chats with other women, she had enlisted her younger brother and his cultist friends from the Aiye confraternity to carry out the robbery. Her confession opened a can of worms.
The case was swiftly transferred to the Lagos State Commissioner of Police’s Special Squad 1. While her brother fled, the police managed to trace the girl’s home. Her father, horrified by the revelations, promised to help recover some of the stolen funds. He returned N3 million — reportedly part of the N5 million that was given to his daughter as her “cut.”
The squad also tracked down four other gang members — Ogbuka Tochukwu (22), John Wisdom (25), Odora Michael (24), and Babatunde Ibrahim (20) — who confessed to being part of the notorious cult group. Recovered from them were N7.5 million in cash, a locally made gun, four cartridges, and a battle axe marked with the Aiye insignia.
Emeka, still reeling from the betrayal, shared his ordeal with reporters.
“I can’t believe someone I loved for four years could do this to me. We spent Valentine’s night together in peace, and the next day she set me up to be robbed and nearly killed. I thank the Special Squad for their work — they gave me hope when I had none.”
Interestingly, the same CP Special Squad gained notoriety last year for taking down a feared kidnapping syndicate that had been terrorizing the Lagos metropolis around Ladipo Market.
