Banditry, abduction for ransom resurface after elections
By Henry Akubuiro
Days into the January 31, 2023 deadline for the validity of the old naira notes, following the unveiling of new naira notes earlier on November 23, 2023, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Godwin Emefiele, was over the moon that the release of three redesigned naira notes had somehow reduced kidnapping and ransom-taking by illegal armed men.
Truly speaking, at the margin, I may be wrong, I think kidnapping and ransom-taking have somehow reduced. Security agents are doing a fantastic job.
“I think it has slowed those people down, because they know that, if they collect old notes, nobody is going to collect it from them. So, it might as well think of other ways,” he said after the apex bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting in Abuja.
Initially, the CBN had pegged its weekly cash withdrawal limits to N500,000 for individuals and N5m for corporate firms before individual withdrawals were pegged at N20, 000 for everybody when the scarcity of the new notes became widespread.
Emefiele’s assessment of the gains of the introduction of the new notes vis-à-vis its effects on kidnapping for ransom was also echoed by the Nigerian Army.
While addressing newsmen in Maiduguri on Tuesday February 21, 2023, the Theatre Commander of the North East Joint Task Force, Operation Hadin Kai (OPHK), Maj-Gen. Ibrahim Salihu Ali, reiterated that the recent naira redesign policy by the CBN had drastically reduced the activities of terrorists in the North East, one of the epicentres of nefarious activities in Nigeria.
On the money swap issue, I think it’s a good policy, it’s helping, and you can see, of course, the issue of kidnapping since the implementation of the policy has drastically reduced. On the part of the terrorists, what we are getting now is some of them are kidnapping people in these areas, forcing them to give them ransom in (available) cash and foodstuff, because they don’t have access to these things. So, it’s a very good policy that needs to be sustained,” he said.
A bazaar of kidnappings
Compared to the rate of kidnappings in Nigeria before the February 25 presidential election in Nigeria, the statistics showed a slight reduction in the rate of kidnappings after the polls, perhaps due to cash crunch. It seemed, at first, like heart-warming news. But that excitement was only short-lived.
Politically- related kidnappings were reported in some states in the lead up to the March 18 governorship and State House of Assembly elections, as some candidates were kidnapped. Even 18 staff of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were abducted in the Ideato area of Imo State.
With the reintroduction of the old naira notes, following the scarcity of the new naira notes, it has become business as usual for the kidnappers across the country, who had, hitherto, become nearly redundant. Saturday Sun findings reveal that both the high and downtrodden aren’t spared in their dragnet.
Nowadays, Nigerian kidnappers do not segregate who to kidnap. In the past, expatriates, the rich and their family members were easy targets. Today, it could be anybody, including those without kidnap value
On Tuesday, the Kaduna State Commissioner for Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan, confirmed the kidnapping of 10 students at Government Secondary School, Awon, a day before, in Kachia Local Government Area.
On March, 29, 2023, information surfaced on the kidnapping of 56 indigenes of Adara town in the Paikoro Local Government Area of Niger State by terrorists, numbering about 200, who demanded for N200 million ransom in order to release the abducted residents.
The attack was said to have occurred on March 14 while residents of the community and its environs were in the church mourning the death of Rev Fr Isaac Achi, who was brutally murdered by suspected assassins in the state in January this year.
Edward Simon Buju, a resident of the area, lamented in a social media post that the attack had harmed the community’s socioeconomic life, causing panic and inability of farmers in the area to go to their farms for fear of being attacked.
According to Edward, one of the abducted victims was killed by the bandits because he refused to follow them to their new location.
Appealing for help, he said: “The Federal Government and the government of Niger State should, as a matter of urgency, come to their aid to save them from these bandits who have been terrorising this community, day in and day out.”
Likewise, a group of concerned people of Adunu, seeking the release of their fellow citizens under the aegis of “FREEDOM FOR #ADUNU56”, pleaded for “Unconditional release of 56 members of our community kidnapped on 14/03/2023 in Adunu by a notorious group of armed bandits.”
The group also sought to “bring to the notice of national and international communities the frequent injustices meted out to our people occasionally and demand this ugly trend is stopped.
“We demand that the Niger State government wake to her constitutional responsibilities of protecting the lives of all her indigenes.
“Demand that security agencies who are paid with taxpayers money rise to the occasion by immediately swinging into action in order to arrest the perpetrators of this ugly act while also ensuring that our people return to their respective families.
“Be of help where necessary to ensure the freedom of our people still in captivity via legal means, awareness, such as the #Adun56, peaceful protest and many others.”
Also, in Niger State, 50 people were kidnapped by terrorists in Rafi and Wushishi LGAs of Niger State on Tuesday night, March 7.
Also, on Tuesday, March 8, three individuals were abducted by gunmen in Beji town of Bosso Local Government Area of Niger State in a two-hour operation.
Similarly, on April 2, 2023, two policemen were kidnapped at Ibbi Police Station in the Mashegu LGA of Niger State, plus at least 32 others kidnapped in the same area.
In neigbouring Abuja, kidnappers came calling on Friday, March 10, abducting nine residents at the Grow Homes Estate along Kuchibiyi in the Kubuwa area of the FCT. The victims were captured from two apartments in the estate.
Zamfara State has, in recent times, become a haven for kidnappers. On April 8, 2023, there were reports by some residents that bandits kidnapped 80 women and children in Zamfara. It was gathered that the incident, which occurred in Wanzamai village in Tsafe Local Government Area of Zamfara, happened when the victims were clearing land for farming and collecting firewood when they were abducted by gunmen and marched into a nearby forest. Most of the kidnapped children were aged between 12 and 17 years, Saturday Sun gathered.
Aside from kidnapping for ransom, kidnappers in some parts of the north also demand villagers to pay protection fees to be allowed to farm and harvest their crops. Though Nigeria’s military has been bombing bush camps used by bandits, the flourishing kidnapping ring has continued unabated.
In the night of March 5, a group of kidnappers invaded Goni-Gora community in Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State and took away a pastor and five other people. At the time of this report, an Anambra businessman, Mr Alexander Nwosu, is still missing two weeks after he was kidnapped at his hometown, Umuchu, in Aguata Local Government Area of the state. Though the kidnappers demanded a ransom of N50m through a telephone call, their phone number has been switched off since then, leaving the hope of the businessman hanging in the balance.
Nwosu, Saturday Sun learnt, owns a petrol filling station, a hotel and a restaurant in the community. The assailants were said to have shot into the air before abducting him that night in the presence of members of his family.
His wife and children raised an alarm immediately after the incident, but villagers were too scared to come out as a result of the gunshots.
In the last seven weeks, over 300 people have been kidnapped by gunmen, since the presidential election, from Zamfara to Lagos, Niger, Abuja, Kaduna, Taraba, Kano, Plateau, Ekiti, Osun, Ogun, Adamawa, Rivers, Edo, Delta, to Ondo State, among other undocumented incidents.
Out of the documented incidents, Saturday Sun learnt that over N7 million ransom has been paid to the kidnappers.
Kidnappers do not only use guns and machetes to kidnap their victims. The use of charms and magic has also been reported. The most disturbing of them all was the case of 16-year old Lekan Mustapha who, on February 28, confessed to an Akure Chief Magistrate Court that he and his guardian used biscuits and magical rings to abduct nine innocent children meant for an Islamic clergyman in Lagos State.
Shockingly, he admitted that his guardian had been using him for the kidnap business for an Alfa based in lkorodu, Lagos State, providing him with magical rings to ease the abduction of his victims.
In Taraba State, Saturday Sun gathered that armed men, on Friday, March 3, kidnapped two wives and a son of a village chief in Sarkin Kudu, Ibi LGA of Taraba State, named Dansalama Adamu, when they couldn’t find their main target.
On April 7, 2023, Nigerians were shocked to hear of the kidnapping of a former Nasarawa Deputy Governor, Professor Onje Gye-Wado, in Gwagi village, Wamba Local Government Area of the state, with the kidnappers demanding N70m ransom.
In Kano State, two family members of the village head of Nasarawa in Tsanyawa Local Government Area were kidnapped at gunpoint.
Sometimes, kidnapping can also be a family business, like in Plateau State, where a 60-year-old man and his two sons were arrested on April 4, 2023, by the Plateau State Police Command for criminal conspiracy, armed robbery and kidnapping, recovering an AK-47 rifle in the process.
In Enugu State, 11-year-old comedian, Kamsiyo Sunday, aka Kamsi, was a lucky boy. Kidnapped at Ukwu-Inyi, Enugu-Ezike, Igbo-Eze LGA of Enugu State, he was rescued by the police in Enugu after he was abducted on March 24, 2023.
In Ondo State, the kidnappers of two teenagers from Ayede Ogbese in Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo State have contacted the family of the victims to pay a ransom of N10m.
A farmer was abducted from his farm in Omu-Ekiti, Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State on March 26, while, in Ogun State, two suspected kidnappers were arrested on March 29, 2023, but two victims were rescued. Also rescued was a kidnap victim, a woman, on March 31, 2023, by the Osun State Police Command. She was among those abducted from a commercial vehicle at Ayepe Community along Osogbo-Ikirun Road in Osun by gunmen.
Lokoja-Abuja Road was in the news on March 25, 2023, following the arrest of a six-man kidnapping gang at Gegu Beki, along the Expressway leading to the FCT.
Recovered from the gang included a pump action rifle; four cartridges, one AK-47 empty shell, one AK-47 rifle, one magazine and four rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition.
On March 25, 2023, four residents of Kori-Oja in Obafemi-Owode Local Government Area of Ogun State were kidnapped. While one was killed by the kidnappers, three were rescued.
Saturday Sun gathered the sum of N100,000 and N88,000 were paid respectively by two of the rescued victims before they were set free.
Caught in Lagos
Last week, the Lagos State Police Comand announced the rescue of some abducted persons in the Ikorodu area of the state. The story was reported by Saturday Sun’s Funke Busari.
It reads: Two poultry workers kidnapped from an egg farm in Isawo, Ikorodu area of Lagos State, on March 26, have been rescued by officers of Lagos State Police Command, and are recounting their ordeal from their hospital beds.
Saturday Sun gathered they were rescued on April 4 from a forest close to their farm. The families and victims of the kidnap victims were elated as the police recently gave an update on the incident and how the rescue operation happened.
For 10 days, the victims were in captivity of the dare-devil gunmen. Currently, the two rescued victims are at the clinic of the Nigeria Police, Ikeja, Lagos, recuperating from the trauma they suffered in the hands of their captors.
One of them, the farm manager (names withheld), told Saturday Sun that a-six man gang stormed the farm where he and the driver were working in Ishawo about 4pm on March 26 while they were arranging eggs for supplies in the bus.
According to the manager, the kidnappers came to the poultry and asked after the boss, but since the man was not available, they descended on the manager and the driver and took them hostage.
The manager recalled that the kidnappers took them into a forest, then contacted their boss, and demanded a ransom of N20 million.
He explained that the kidnappers later reduced the ransom to N10 million. But their boss told the kidnappers that he didn’t have such amount of money. Eventually, they agreed to accept N3 million for their release. The manager said while they were in bondage, they were bullied, beaten with cutlasses and blindfolded. He also said they dealt ruthlessly with the driver.
He said he bought himself temporary freedom when he transferred the sum of N55,000 to the kidnappers, but his co-hostage was assaulted because of his inability to pay.
Later, their boss called the kidnappers to inform them that he had raised the money they agreed on. He narrated that two of the kidnappers assigned to collect the money were arrested at the point of collection. The manager added that, during the gun duel, one of the kidnappers died, while the other ran back to the forest.
It was a scary experience for the abductees. The manager added that the remaining kidnappers watching over them escaped in a boat.
Their ordeal was compounded because of the environment they were not familiar with, “We didn’t know anywhere in the forest, it was in the midnight around 2 ‘O’ clock.” He said the kidnapper that came back said they should cooperate or he would kill them.
He changed their location, asked them to call their boss by 5 am and demanded N500,000 for their release so he could use it to console the family of their deceased partner.
“My boss asked that we send account details, and we sent the details to my second son to transfer this to my driver’s account,” said the manager.
He informed them that it was in the process of the transfer that the police tracked them.
“We followed a direction through the forest. There was swamp everywhere, and we came out to a point where we met one man and explained that we were kidnapped.”
Luck smiled on them when a good Samaritan gave them N1,000 as transport fare. He narrated that, throughout their captivity, they were fed with garri, and the kidnappers got them bush meat and fish to cook soup to eat Eba using dirty water.
The hideout of the kidnappers, according to him, was built with a palm tree but not totally covered.
The manager claimed that he was beaten with a cutlass but sustained a few injuries on his legs and scratches.
It was confirmed by the driver, who claimed he also got a similar dose of the beating.
The police spokesman, Benjamin Hundeyin, while giving a vivid account of how the victims were rescued, recalled: “We deployed our intelligence resources because they were asking for a N20 million ransom.”
He added: “On April 4, at about 11:30p.m, our operatives stormed where the victims were kept. That was the day the kidnappers were to pick up the N3 million ransom.”
Hundeyin said the kidnappers envisaged that the police might be involved, so they had already prepared an ambush; however, the police already planned for a counter ambush.
He said: “There was a gun duel, after which one of the kidnappers was injured, and we took him to the hospital, where he was later confirmed dead, and the rest of the kidnappers escaped,” adding that the police subsequently combed the vicinity for the victims.
“We brought them to our hospital in Ikeja to do a mental evaluation. So far, they are responding well,” he said.
The police spokesman said the command was working on some leads to get the fleeing kidnappers arrested.
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