The year 2016, was one that witnessed policemen fighting kidnappers; many gangs were smashed and several victims rescued. But the more the policemen fought, the more kidnappers seemed to increase. No thanks to the recession in the country.
Most of the breakthroughs in cases that had to do with kidnapping were achieved by operatives attached to the Inspector-General of Police, (IGP), Ibrahim Idris’s Special Intelligence Response Squad (IRT). The IRT is headed by an Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Mr. Abba Kyari.
In October, 2016, a gang of kidnappers, abducted Mrs. Margaret Emefiele, wife of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele.
The suspects, who were later arrested after collecting a huge amount of money from Emefiele, said the abduction of Margaret was random. She was released less than 24 hours after her abduction.
On November 13, the Human Resources Manager of Dangote Industries Limited, Mr. Istifanus Bello Gurama was abducted and killed after he went to pay ransom for five workers of Dangote Company that were kidnapped. The kidnappers killed him after they discovered Gurama came with just N5.6 million, instead of the N100m ransom they had demanded for.
Three men, Abubakar Gide (24), Abdullahi Salihu (22) and Babuga Adamu (25), were later arrested for his murder. During interrogation, Salihu confessed to have shot Gurama in the head. It was a killing shot.
Gurama’s body was dragged from the point he was killed and dumped in a river.
The police, early in the year, also smashed a gang that specialised in kidnapping highly placed Nigerians. Before the gang was cracked, it had abducted many elites and collected ransom.
Some of those abducted are the Deputy High Commissioner of Sierra Leon, the Executive Director of Dangote Group Engineer Mansur Ahmed, Chairman of Code of conduct Bureau and several others. Most of the victims were abducted along Abuja-Kaduna Expressway.
After the gang was smashed, the police arrested 12 members of the gang. The police said the gang had been terrorising Kaduna State and its environs for years.
Recovered from the gang are three AK47 rifles and Army Uniforms.
A police source said: “ On July 3, 2016, sequel to IGP's directives, IRT Operatives were deployed to Kaduna State and after seven days of dedicated and none stop follow up, all the kidnappers involved were arrested by IRT, supported by Kaduna Anti-kidnapping Operatives. Three AK47 rifles with serial numbers; LU3855, 406724, AC03302, three loaded AK47 magazines, containing total of 90 rounds and two sets of Nigerian Army Camouflage uniforms were recovered. The girlfriend to the second in command of the gang, Fatima Umar, 28, was equally arrested.”
The suspects further disclosed that the gang specialised in buying cars snatched from abducted victims.
Acting on their confessions, the IRT Operatives went to Kano State and arrested four men.
The suspects were Abdulrahman Hassan aka Risi, 42, Abubakar Datti aka Baballiya, 45, Aminu Adamu Yakasai, 49, and Shuaibu Yahaya, 48, all in Kano State.
The police said: “The suspects confessed to have received more than 100 cars from various groups of armed robbers and kidnappers, who operate within Kaduna, Kano, Katsina and Niger states. The 100 cars included the Toyota 4-Runner Jeep of the Deputy High Commissioner and the Land Cruiser jeep of the Executive Director of Dangote Group Engr Mansur Ahmed among others. The syndicate used to cross the cars they collected from the kidnappers to Niger Republic and other neighbouring countries.”
The year also saw the police pursuing and arresting killers of Honourable Gideon Aremu, member of Oyo State House of Assembly. Sequel to the murder of Aremu in Ibadan, on July 1, combine teams from IRT, was deployed to Oyo State by Idris.
The detectives, after four weeks of intensive follow up arrested the gang leader of the group and three others. The suspects are; Ayobami Adedeji, gang leader, Sodiq Adedeji, the first receiver of Aremu’s Phone, Alfa Isiaka and Adeniran Oladapo, who was arrested with the late Aremu's Samsung Phone.
Ayobami Adedeji confessed to the murder of Aremu and mentioned other gang members at large. He said that one of his gang members, Abbey, pulled the trigger that killed Aremu. According to him, their plan was only to rob the late Aremu, before Abbey shot and killed him.
It was the year that some daring kidnappers, brazenly stormed into the palace of Oba of Iba in Lagos and abducted the Oba. Police investigation led to the arrest of the kidnappers’ gang leader on June 6, 2016. The gang leader's name is Duba Furejo Aka General Duba.
After arresting Furejo, the police quizzed him; his confessions were used to trail and arrest his second in command, Ododomu Isaiah, 40. He was arrested at Iyana Ipaja Motor Park, where he went to board a bus to Ondo State.
Isaiah told the police: “We’re 20 gang members. We operate from the creeks. But it was only eight of us that participated in the abduction of the Oba. I and Blessing, who is still in the creek, moved the Oba from our camp to shore after payment of ransom.”
Another set of kidnappers, which had been unleashing hell in Katsina State were cracked. The gang kidnapped the Honorable Sani Bello Member House of Reps, representing Mashi Federal Constituency Katsina State.
Although they collected ransom from Bello, policemen recovered part of the ransom, where it was buried in a bush.
Determined to check operations of kidnappers and pipeline vandals in Lagos and Ogun states in 2016, the Federal Government carried out aerial bombardments of creeks between Lagos and Ogun states. It was a joint operation. The Joint Task Force (JTF) comprised the Navy, Air Force, and the Army, alongside operatives of the Department of State Services (DSS), Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and the police.
The aerial bombardments by the JTF were tagged ‘Operation Awatse,’ a Hausa word for ‘scatter,’ which had land, air and maritime components, with each under a commander.
The kidnappers scattered during the aerial bombardments. Law enforcements believed they scattered to other states within Nigeria.
The police would later arrest seven gang members in Benin City, alleged to be part of the gang that had been terrorizing Lagos before the military aerial bombardments.
“The gang was perfecting plans to abduct a woman and robbed a bank in Benin City, when police smashed it,” said a police source.
In August, the police also smashed a gang of kidnappers and arrested four suspects. The suspects were alleged to have been terrorizing Katsina and Benue states.
A police source noted: “Upon receipt of several complaints from different groups and individuals in Benue State about activities of some kidnappers in the states, the IGP deployed IRT Operatives. After two weeks of intensive follow up, the gang leader of a gang of kidnappers, identified as Terna Iorlu aka Rocker, 28, Ternenger Terwase aka Bishop 29, Terungwa Abasuwa aka Bobby 27 and Oryina Bosua aka Man U, 34, were arrested in Katsina Ala, Gboko and Makurdi Town. They confessed to be involved in several kidnappings in Benue State. The gang members confessed to be responsible for the abduction of an Indian expatriate, in Katsina Ala. The gang also kidnapped one Mr. Charles, an Igbo man, operating a frozen fish business at Adikpo, a suburb of Kwande L.G.A. They were behind the kidnap of a prominent Chief, named Mr. Tsegba in Gboko L.G.A. The suspects collected N5m ransom before he was released. They also confessed to have kidnapped several lecturers and business men in college of education, Katsina Ala and neighbouring towns.”
In August 23, kidnappers abducted the manager of NNPC Mega Station in Port Harcourt. When police got the suspects, two AK47 rifles were recovered from them.
The gang was alleged to have been terrorising Rivers State. IRT Operatives intercepted the hoodlums at UTC Junction in Port Harcourt. Upon Sighting the Operatives, the hoodlums opened fire and engaged the Operatives in shootouts. As a result, two of the hoodlums later identified as Bright Umem and Ifiyemi were wounded and rushed to the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, where they were confirmed dead. Exhibit recovered from the hoodlums include; two AK47 rifles with five 5 magazines fully loaded and a Nissan Sunny Salon car.
The review of the 2016 wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the kidnap and subsequent murder of Reverend John Alex Adeyi (Ph.D), Catholic Diocese of Otukpo and Parish Priest of St Bernard's Parish Okpoga in Benue State. He was kidnapped on April 24.
The killers were arrested between September 1 and 14, 2016 and singing like birds, confessed how the reverend was killed. The reverend was killed after the kidnappers collected ransom from his family.
The four men, who masterminded the kidnap of the reverend, were later arrested. They were picked up in Bauchi, Enugu and Benue states.
The Black Nokia Lumia Phone of the late reverend was recovered in Boto Village Bauchi State, while the phone used for the ransom negotiation was recovered in Obollo town, Enugu State.
The suspects confessed to have killed the reverend in Ogonokwu Forest, Otukpa area Ogbadibo, LGA Benue State, from where his body was recovered two months later.
The police stated: “They further confessed to have collected N1.7 million ransom from his family after they killed him. The suspects led IRT Operatives on September, 15, to the bush in Orokam area of Benue State, where three guns, used in the operation were buried. Aliyu Garba who pulled the trigger and killed the Reverend also identified the very gun he used to murder the victim.”
On September 17, some landlords of an estate in Isheri, Lagos State, came out jogging and were swooped up on and abducted. The suspects were pursued and arrested on September, 27. One of the key members of the gang, James Kegbe aka JJ 38, was arrested in Ore Town Ondo State, where he went to spend his share of the ransom.
The suspect confessed to the kidnapping of the landlords and mentioned other gang members involved as Trust, Julius, Victor, Prince, John, Senior Man and others.
Kegbe admitted that the gang collected N12million ransom and N1.2million was his share.
On December 20, in a bid to tackle kidnapping in schools, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State recruited 5000 military trained personnel as guards for public schools in the state.
Ambode said the move was to strengthen security in public, primary and secondary schools.
Within this year, two kidnap cases were recorded in schools located in eastern part of the state.
If there’s one vital issue that Buhari’s administration will need to tackle with unflinching determination in 2017, it’s kidnapping. It has become the easiest way of making money, that graduates, non-graduates, law enforcers and practically all Nigerians are embracing it. To achieve this, more law enforcement officers need to be trained in tracking and suspects’ profiling. This is the bedrock of the achievement of IRT, which many security experts and stakeholders have applauded.
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