Nigerian Afro pop artist Emuemu Oghala Goodnews, known as Gnewzy, has disclosed the amount paid for his release following his abduction.
Gistme9ja reported that Gnewzy was kidnapped in April 2024 on Eklat Road in Ughelli, Delta State, while his manager and brother, Obas9ice, managed to escape the incident.
The kidnappers initially reached out to Dilly Umenyiora, CEO of his record label, demanding a ransom of $200,000. Gnewzy was freed on May 3.
During an interview with HipTV, Gnewzy recounted his ordeal, revealing that the ransom of $200,000 was paid for his release.
He also shared that his captors were wearing police uniforms.
He said:
“They actually paid a ransom of about $200,000. I actually went for a radio tour in Delta State. Which is the state where I came from, Ugheli precisely. After the whole tour, to round it up, it was a Sunday, so I said let me just put up a little listening party.
“And we all got ready for the party, I performed. We left for the apartment that we were in. After a while, my brother said he wanted to pick somebody up. I was like let me go with you.
“We went to where we wanted to pick the person and the person was no longer willing to follow us. On our way home around a U-turn, the men on police uniforms just ran on us and were like come down.
“So we got to one certain point. They stopped and dragged my brother out. And told him they were going to shoot him. He was told to run into the bush or else they would shoot him.
“We were thinking someone was trying to use me to get to my label boss.
“They then covered my face with something. They did not beat me. They gave me food and told me not to do anything funny or else they would fuck me up.”
