Hacker arrested for blackmailing late MKO's widow

A 26-year-old man, Caleb Nzube, has been arrested by the Inspector General of Police Monitoring Team and their counterparts in the Intelligence Response Team (IRT), for allegedly hacking into the social media page of one of the widows of the late businessman and politician, Chief Mko Abiola, Mrs. Timu Alade Abiola, and blackmailing her to the tune of $5,000, (about N1.5 million).

Nzube was arrested at his hideout in the Obosi area of Anambra State when the operatives stormed the area after he had been in hiding for months.

In a statement by the police, Nzube hacked into the Twitter handle of the woman and posted a photoshopped picture of the woman carrying a human skull and later contacted her and threatened to expose the page to the whole world if she did not pay him the sum.

“Nzube hacked into the twitter handle of Mrs. Timu Alade Abiola, downloaded her pictures and designed a web page, depicting the woman carrying a human skull in preparation for rituals.

He later contacted the woman and threatened to expose the web page to the whole world if she didn’t pay $5,000,” the statement said.

During his confession, the suspect said:

“I started following Mrs. Timu Alade Abiola on Twitter. I got her pictures. I felt she was a good catch and I decided to blackmail her.

I used ‘photoshop’ to make her look like she was carrying a human skull. I designed a web page with a little gossip story on it that she was caught for ritual. I sent her the link and when she saw it, I demanded she pay me $5,000 or I would show it to the whole world.

One of her friends came in and begged that I shouldn’t do it, that they were ready to pay me $2,000. I rejected the money. I insisted that I must collect the amount I demanded. Later they discovered I was Igbo and gave my number to an Igbo girl who started talking to me.

I accepted their offer. What got me angry was that while we were still talking, they sent a fishing link that destroyed my website which I had been maintaining for more than four years. That website paid me the little money I used in sustaining myself.

I told the Igbo girl about it and told her that if I don’t get the money before the end of the week, I will show the web page to the whole world. She asked for my account, I gave it to her but before I knew what was happening, the police came and arrested me.”

Unknown to Nzube, Mrs. Abiola had written a petition to the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, on the blackmail and the IG drafted his team to track him down and arrest him.

Apart from the woman, Nzube was said to also blackmail a senator as well as other prominent Nigerians.

“I specialised in online dating, but I later ventured into blackmail. I felt it was more lucrative. I normally spend hours on the social media, searching for prominent Nigerians. My targets are mainly rich politicians, popular businessmen and socialites.

I go after these people because I believe they are more sensitive to what is being said about them in public. I don’t understand why she had to bring in the police.

I told the Igbo girl that what I needed was for her to tell her madam to just pay me for my website they destroyed.

In fact, I regret all this. If I had known it would be this messy, I would not have ventured into this. What I do is only dating. I just wanted to try my luck.”