The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Suspected criminal who rob cab drivers with biscuits arrested

    Suspected criminal who rob cab drivers with biscuits arrested

    A suspected criminal who specializes in robbing taxi drivers of their cars with biscuits  within Abuja, Benue and Kogi, has been arrested by men of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team.

    Police sources said about eight vehicles suspected to have been snatched were recovered from the  49-year-old notorious car thief.

    It was learnt that the suspect is currently being detained at the Force Headquarters in Abuja.

    The suspect, according to police sources, confessed that he usually gave his victims  biscuits injected with sedatives before snatching their cars.

    It was learnt that a victim, whose vehicle was robbed by the suspect  in Abuja, gave him out.

    He was trailed to his home town in Otupko, Benue State, where he was discovered to have had a car garage.

     According to the source, the suspect said “ he was married with four children and that he was formerly selling fairly used shoes until 2013, when he veered into the sale of cars and later into car theft after the death of his father.’’

  • Boy, 7, four others dead as truck rams into market in Benin Republic

    No fewer than five persons, including a seven-year-old boy, identified as Sola Faniyi, were crushed to death and scores injured after a truck loaded with bags of rice rammed into Igolor market, in Benin Republic.

    The incident happened at about 2 p.m on Thursday October 27, 2016 at the market, which shares border with Idiroko, a Nigerian community in Ipokia Local Government area of Ogun State.

    It was learnt that the driver of the truck lost control and veered into a row of stalls inside the market, near a customs checkpoint in the francophone nation.

    One Toyota Corolla and a Toyota Sienna cars which belonged to shoppers and travellers were also smashed by the truck.

    It was learnt that the little boy was running errand for her mother who sold ‘pure’ water in the market when he was crushed to death by the truck.

    It was learnt that some of the victims were Nigerians who went to the market to trade or purchase items.

    An eyewitness said: ‘’ We were coming out of a nearby mosque when the truck rammed into the market near Benin Customs/Police checkpoint.

    ‘’About five people including a boy who whose mother sold pure (sachet) water in the market were crushed to death. However, the driver of the Toyota Corolla survived the accident with injuries.’’

  • Ogudu residents decry abrupt demolition, seek compensation for damage

    Ogudu residents decry abrupt demolition, seek compensation for damage

    Residents of Peter Oki/Raphael streets, Ogudu area of Lagos State have decried the abrupt demolition of their houses by the Lagos State Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Physical Planning.  They were rendered homeless after a group of men who were initially unidentified  bombarded the area and crushed about four buildings with their property trapped in it.

    Without any prior notice, the group allegedly ejected the residents at gunpoint with the aid of about 25 armed policemen and soldiers about  noon.

    It was gathered that as soon as the group arrived the area, a caterpillar with Lagos State Government stamp inscribed with Messrs Dully

    Dredging Construction Ltd, was immediately deployed to pull down the structures before residents could grasp the bone of contention.

    According to aggrieved victims, they were stripped of property worth millions which they laboured for years to obtain. They said the group claimed to have acted on orders from the Lagos State Ministry of Justice.

    According to many of the landlords who had barely lived for less than six months upon completion of their houses, they were caught in total shock and could not challenge the officers as a Black Maria was available to ferry away anyone who stood in their way.

    It was learnt that while some people were arrested, a man was beaten and locked up for attempting to make a video coverage of the demolition.

    Reliving the sad tale, Mrs Peter Oki, a household item trader, said she was unable to salvage her belongings as she was in the bathroom when the group arrived.

    She said: “I was inside the bathroom taking my bath when I heard ‘Come out’! I rushed outside and saw some policemen, soldiers, and some people in mufti. They said, ‘Come out! We want to demolish the house.’ I said haha, how? I was thinking they were joking and wanted to go inside but they said madam, come out and see caterpillar; we want to demolish the house and I was on towel. I came out and I saw the caterpillar. I ran inside trying to even put on a dress when I heard them breaking my neighbour’s house.

    “Before I could call my husband to tell him, they had entered my room and were shouting madam come outside. I passed through the back door to go out. When I came out, I saw my house demolished without even picking a pin. What I have left is what is on me. My children went to school since morning and only their uniform is what is left.

    “I was asking them where they came from and they said they were from Alausa. They were wielding guns and so, I could not argue with them. And they came with a Black Maria, if you want to talk, they will lock you up. We have been staying here for the past three years. My ware have been destroyed including my children’s books.”

    Her husband, Mr Peter Oki, estimated his loss at N30 million, adding that the demolition was illegally carried out without a directive from the state government. He said the government usually issued notice to them whenever there was an issue to be resolved.

    Oki said: “I was actually at Mile 2 about 11:30am when my wife called me that some people came and wanted to demolish our house. I said it’s not possible that I don’t think they would touch our house. “But she said as we were talking, our neighbour’s house was down already. She was still saying how can they demolish the house without notice? Before she knew it, caterpillar had entered the house. I didn’t even know what to do. It was only God that controlled me while

    I was driving down. If not for the help of my brother that followed me, it would have been something else. When I got home, I was surprised they didn’t even allow us to take anything. Not even my children’s clothes.

    “If you look at this place, from Ojota to Ketu is acquisition but we already applied for ratification from the Lagos State government. We wrote a letter of ratification to the House of Assembly and they sent a consultant to chart the area and tell us where is safe and not.”

    A 55-year-old nurse, Mrs. Ifemeni Esther, said all that she gathered in the past 30 years were destroyed in few minutes. She said: “It came to me as a shock because I wasn’t expecting such a thing.  We didn’t pick anything from the house and in fact, I fainted when I came. We just packed in two months ago.

    We bought the land 12 years ago. There was no notice of any form. “If you are building on an illegal land, the government will come and mark it but there was nothing like that. It’s just surprising to see that the house was demolished without notice of even 10 minutes to pack our things.

    “And we don’t know where the people came from. The government should come and help us because we have been rendered homeless. I’m now 55 years. My husband is now 65. I was not even expecting that I would be homeless at 55.” Her son, Ifemeni Uchena said: “I was inside the house when some military men came around with the police.  I didn’t even know that they wanted to demolish the house.

    “They just ordered me out and told me that if I don’t cooperate with them, they will arrest me. In my presence, they arrested two persons. They also told me they didn’t want me around the area until 2:30pm. Even when they spotted a boy that was recording the incident, they beat him, seized the phone and locked him in the Black Maria. I was so surprised that they didn’t give us chance to pack our things.

    “I was typing my project when they came; my laptop got destroyed, our TV set, deep freezer, all my textbooks, clothes, food stuff – all destroyed.”

    His father, Mr Chukwu Ifemeni, said: “I was with my son and we were in. I pulled my cloth to relax. I just heard the sound of caterpillar and vehicles. I thought they were passing on the road. I just saw some policemen with gun and soldiers asking us to come out that they wanted to demolish the house.

    “My son was even asking them what we did and that we didn’t get notice. They said they didn’t care and started demolishing. As I came out, I saw them arresting people.”

    But the Chairman, Lagos Task Force on Land grabbing, Lagos Ministry of Justice, Akinjide Bakare, said the residents did not have the legal prerogative to be on the land as it was encroached by one  ‘Oluomo’, who allegedly sold the land to them.

    He said: “There was a petition received from an allottee of the Lagos Statement government, Mrs Aderonke Adedoyin Osinowo, that some people encroached on her land and that a certain Oluomo sold the land to them. What we did on Saturday was to arrest the violators and they will be charged to court tomorrow. The Ministry of Justice is not in charge of demolition, there are other agencies who were there to enforce the law.

    “But if you ask them to provide their title documents, building plan approval or drainage clearance because that place is a wet land area, they don’t have any.”

    Responding to the claim that the residents were not forewarned before the commencement of the demolition, he said: “We invited him (Oluomo) severally in that regard but he never showed up because he was aware his activities on the land were illegal.”

  • Sex worker arraigned for selling daughter for N60,000

    A 37- year- old sex commercial sex worker, Grace Aghomi Onome, has been arraigned before an Ebute Metta Magistrate’s Court for allegedly selling her daughter for N60,000.

    Aghomi was said to have sold her daughter called Feranmi Ahmed to one Endurance.

    She was said to be engaged in prostitution in the Mobil Area of Badagry.

    The accused pleaded not guilty to the charges.

    Police prosecutor , Ighodalu Daniel, told the court that the accused committed the offence on September 30 at Badagry at about 11 pm.

    The offence according to the prosecutor contravened section 274 and 142 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011.

    The charge sheet reads: “That you Grace Aghomi Onome ‘f’ on September 30, 2016 at about 11.30 pm at Badagry area in the Badagry magisterial district did sell your daughter Feranmi Ahmed ‘f’ to one Endurance ‘f’ surname unknown for a consideration of N60,000 in order that the said Feranmi Ahmed ‘f’ should be held or  treated as a slave or servitude and thereby committed an offence contrary and punishable under Section 274 of the Criminal Law of Lagos state , 2011.”.

    Magistrate Abimbola Awogboro admitted the accused to bail in the sum of N50, 000 and a surety in like sum.

    The case was adjourned to November 21 for mention.

  • How gunmen robbed, raped us—Rivers corps members

    It was a sorrowful nightfall for two members of the National Youth Service Corps last Wednesday in Asarama Community, Andoni Local Government Area, Rivers State, after they were robbed and raped by gunmen suspected militants.

    The victims were said to be in bed at their unsecured lodge in an isolated part of the community when the gunmen broke into their rooms to rob and rape them.

    The operation with started at midnight lasted for more than two hours, with two female corps members raped.

    The militants carted away phones, food stuff, clothes, shoes, money among others.

    One of the victims who didn’t want her name in print in a telephone conversation with The Nation explained that the gunmen numbering seven wore faze caps except the ring leader who was hooded.

    She said the gunmen hinged their actions on the failure of the government to pay them their dues.

    “The gunmen broke the door with their legs. No burglary proof or protector. We were about seven in the lodge. We had five serving corpers, one ex-corps member and one other person. They entered my room and I was told to knock on other rooms. They came here with guns and cutlasses. They were about seven in number. They asked all of us out of our rooms and they packed all of us in empty room. Then later they came to ask if we had any male corper because the lodge is like a wing. It was the first wing they robbed in the first hour of the operation. In that first wing, we had just one male corps member; so they took him to the other room and beat him with cutlass. They asked him to pull his trousers.

    ‘’We the girls were packed in an empty room and they told us to stand up one after the other and they led us to our rooms. Some phones were collected and luckily for some of us, our phones were not with us because we were charging it. I had my phone with  me but immediately they came, I hid my phone because they did not come with torch. It was our torch they were collecting. There has not been light in our lodge since we started serving. We have been using generator and we don’t put it on overnight. So there was no light and they didn’t come with any source of light. They asked me to put on my torchlight. They asked us how much we had as they led us to our rooms. As they were doing that, they were beating, slapping and hitting us. They searched the rooms and asked us to bring the money. So I think because I was fidgeting, I told them the amount I didn’t have. The one I had I gave them and they were asking for the remaining one. I was still checking when one of them came in to scatter all my stuff. And I was  trying to tell him that was just all I had. They asked me to kneel down and went into other people’s room to do the same thing.

    ‘’When he came back into my room, he locked the door and asked me to look for the money, else he would kill me. I told them that I didn’t have any money apart from the one I already gave them. Then he (gunmen) asked me to pull my dress, and I was actually raped that night. I struggled but he overpowered me. He was beating and slapping me. The marks are still on my body. He was the one who had the gun with him and he had already locked the door on us. One other female corper was raped in our room too.

    After that, he told me to lie faced down on my bed, then also took some things from my room and left. He told me to lock the door when he left and warned that I shouldn’t open the door for any other person that when he wants to come, he would knock.

    Then I was hearing footsteps; I think they were carrying the food stuff that they saw in other rooms. They went into the other wing where they met two men and a lady and  they collected their phones, foods stuff, clothes, shoes, and some plates too. All these lasted for more than two hours. They sounded local and they were saying “since the government did not pay us; no vex o. All these things, na hunger cause am. If government no pay us, then if we get gun, we go find our way.’’

    Expatiating further, she said: ‘’There is no police station in that area. And our lodge is bushy, so even if we called for help, no one would have heard to rescue us. If you are coming into the community, our lodge is the first house. It was my pastor who took us to a hospital. I attend a parish of the Redeem Christian Church of God. The hospital is in another community entirely, there is no health facility where are quarters is located. The local inspector, local government chairman and some other people visited us in the hospital and took care of our hospital bill. We were adequately treated and given drugs to prevent pregnancy or infection. They told us to leave the place. So the place is under lock now. I feel very bad. It’s very heartbreaking and traumatizing but I know God has just been helping me. And with the people around me, I’ve been so encouraged. I know God knows about everything that happened and I know those that did it will not go unpunished.

    She condemned the state of insecurity especially in hinterland communities like Asarama saying: “There was a time they raised an issue that everybody will be left in his or her own geopolitical zones, so even if they wouldn’t want to scrap it, we should be posted within our geopolitical zones. If I was in my own place, whatever they were saying, I could pick up some little things from it when they were speaking the language and that could even be used to trace them. But a in a place like that, by 5 or 6pm, you have to be in your own house and something happens, you don’t know how to communicate. Even if someone is talking about killing you, you cannot understand to save yourself. If it will not be scrapped, they should maintain us in our own geopolitical zones and they should ensure security measures because we did not say we wanted to serve. They made it compulsory for us, so once we have agreed that we want to serve our country, they should make sure security measures are high. There is no security where we are and I think that was what gave the gunmen confidence because they know there is nowhere we can run to for help.”

    Meanwhile, other corps members have become apprehensive since the incident, especially the females.

    According to one of the corps member serving in the same community, no measures have been instilled to forestall further attacks in the area. She said it took the intervention of the Zonal Inspector to approve their relocation to safer areas as the Local Inspector insisted they stay or face harsh consequences.

    According to her: “The proximity of our lodge to the scene coupled with no guaranteed  security had set panic in us, we don’t know these guys  neither do we know what line of action they would take next, we just thought  it’s better to be proactive and not just take harmful risk. So, we all decided to vacate the lodge and not to return.’’

  • Septuagenarian in court for allegedly duping Redeemed Church N1.6m

    A Septuagenarian, Adewale Murtala, on Friday appeared before an Osogbo Magistrates’ Court for allegedly duping the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Osun province  1, N1.6 million.

    Murtala, 71, is facing a two-count charge of fraud and stealing.

    The Prosecutor, Insp. Taiwo Adegoke, told the court that septuagenarian committed the offence sometimes in Feb. 2012 at about 12.45 p.m at Temidire Estate, Osogbo.

    Adegoke said the accused fraudulently obtained N1.6 million from Pastor Alade Samuel of the church in an attempt to sell a piece of land to him, knowing it to be fake.

    He said the plot of land belonged to another person before the pastor was duped and N1.6 million collected from him.

    The prosecutor said the offence contravened sections 419 and 390 (9) of the Criminal Code cap 34 vol.11 laws of Osun, 2003.

    Murtala pleaded not guilty to the charge, and his Counsel, Mrs Oketade Olufunke, prayed the court to grant her client bail in the most liberal terms.

    The Magistrate, Mrs Halimatu Bashiru, granted bail to the septuagenarian in the sum of N500,000 and two sureties in like sum.

    Bashiru said the sureties must reside within the court’s jurisdiction, attach an affidavit of means and evidence of tax payment.

    She said the sureties must also produce two passport sized photographs, and adjourned the case till Dec. 21 for hearing.

  • How police arrested kidnappers of Lagos landlords

    Facts have emerged on how the police arrested the kidnappers of some Lagos landlords and also foiled the gang’s attempt to kidnap the traditional ruler of Ibeju-Lekki, a highbrow community in Lagos State.

    The police authorities in Abuja, the nation’s capital city, said it foiled a kidnap attempt on the Onibeju of Ibeju-Lekki, Oba Rafiu Salami, with the arrest of five members of the gang of kidnappers, who had abducted three landlords and their trainer, during a routine exercise at the Isheri North Area of the state penultimate Saturday.

    The leader of a kidnap gang, identified simply as Osama, has also confessed that he resorted to kidnapping people for ransom as an ex-Niger Delta militant following the stoppage of the monthly stipend he and other former militants were getting from the Federal Government on account of the presidential amnesty programme.

    Police sources said the dreaded gang of kidnappers, who had been terrorising communities around the riverine areas of Lagos and Ogun states in recent times, were in the final stage of their plot to abduct Oba Salami when operatives of the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (IRT) swooped on them.

    The suspects, who were picked up separately in Ore in Ondo State, Sapele in Delta State, Ibafo in Ogun State and Epe and Ikorodu in Lagos State, were identified as Natei Okunna (gang leader), James Kegbe, Thank-God Segede, Trust Bourdilon and Timi Inomi.

    The suspects were said to have confessed during interrogation to have received the sum of N12 million as ransom before releasing the landlords, who were identified as Kennedy Ucheagwu, Dr. Omololu Bello, Fidelis Esang and their trainer, Olalere Olawale.

    While the suspected kidnappers held the landlords in their den located inside the creeks of Ikorodu, the police gathered intelligence indicating that the kidnappers had identified a new target and also sent scouts to monitor the movements of the target.

    Further intelligence, according to our source, indicated that the gang’s new target was Oba Salami and they were putting final touches to their plan to abduct the monarch.

    The Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, in an effort to prevent a repeat of the August 7, 2016 incident in Iba area of Lagos State where Oba Goriola Oseni, the Oniba of Ibaland, was kidnapped and a ransom on N15.1 million was paid as ransom before he was released, swiftly deployed operatives of the IRT led by CSP Abba Kyari to Lagos State, with a mandate to trail and apprehend all the suspects involved in the case.

    The first suspect, James Kegbe, a.k.a JJ, was arrested in his house in Ore town, Ondo State, while the gang leader, Natei Okunna, also known as Osama, an Ex-Niger Delta militant, was traced to his hideout in Sapele, Delta State. The three other suspects were arrested in Ogun and Lagos states.

    Narrating his involvement, Osama, the gang leader, lamented that he went back into crime as a beneficiary of the presidential amnesty for Niger Delta militants in 2009 because the Presidential Amnesty office stopped paying his monthly stipends.

    The 29-year-old explained that he was trained as a marine pilot in South Africa through the Presidential Amnesty Programme (PAP), but when he returned to Nigeria, he could not secure a job and had to survive on the monthly stipend he was getting from PAP. But in 2015, he said, PAP stopped paying him and others. So he relocated from his home town in Warri North Local Government to Lagos State where he joined some of his friends and brothers who were into pipeline vandalism in Ikorodu area of Lagos State.

    He said: “When I came, Vicker accommodated me and showed me what they were doing. First, we were vandalising pipelines and selling the products. But when it stopped, we moved into kidnapping. Our camp was formerly in the creeks of Shawo in Ikorodu. But when the army started bombing the area, we moved away and set up a new camp inside the creeks of Ajegunle area of Ikorodu.  We did several kidnappings around that area.

    But when the job to kidnap the landlords at Isheri came, I didn’t go with them, because I am like the boss. I was the one who deployed the guy who went on surveillance. And on the day they struck, I was at the camp when they brought the men and I gave instructions that they should be properly fed. I wasn’t the one who did the negotiation because I left the camp three days after they brought the men and I went to stay with my girlfriend in a hotel.

    “When the ransom was paid, I was called to come for my share and I asked one of my boys to bring the money to me in my hotel room. When I counted it, the total sum was N500,000. They told me that everyone in the camp got a share of the money.

    “But before the money came, we were also making plans to go to Ibeju-Lekki to kidnap the oba of that area. An informant brought the job to us and the person said security around the king was very weak. We sent him to watch the man’s movements and tell us how often he comes to the waterside. Our informant gave us a positive result, but we were yet to choose a date for the operation when I was arrested.”

    Another suspect, Jemes Akegbe, a native of Arogbo in Ondo State, said: “I was in my house in Ore when I was arrested. I am a fisherman and I joined Stone’s gang for kidnapping because I was not making enough money from my fishing job.

    “We were seven that went for the job, and we went with one boat and five rifles. Our informant told us that the landlords would come out in the morning to jog around the area. Four of us stood at the roadside with guns, waiting for them. When they sighted us, they were scared and started running. We went after them and shot into the air. Four of them lay on the ground and we kidnapped them, while the others escaped.

    “After we kidnapped them, it was Julius and senior man who negotiated and collected the ransom from the people at Ajegunle.  I was given N300, 000. I was arrested in my house while I was relaxing with my family.”

    Thank-God Jegede, 27, who also hails from Arogbo town in Ondo State, said he worked as a cleaner in a hotel in Isheri North. He said it was his stepfather, known as MB, who gave the job to the kidnappers. But he said he was not aware when the man contacted the kidnappers.

    According to him, “my stepfather did not tell me about this plan. It was one of my friends we call Trust who told me that they were planning the kidnapping. It was Trust that also told me that it was my stepfather that brought the job to them. The man is married to my mother and they have four children together. The man is a fisherman and a hunter. He normally hunts inside the Isheri bush and lives in an uncompleted building within the area with my mother.

    “After I was told about the job, I indicated interest and I was told that my role would be to monitor the movements of our targets and I should alert them the moment I saw them jogging. I was given N300,000 and my stepfather was given N500,000.”

    But 28-year-old Trust said that he bought all the foods the landlords ate while in captivity, adding that after the ransom was paid, he and Akegbe led their victims out of the camp and dropped them off at a suitable spot where they found their ways home.

    Narrating his role, he said: “I am a trader and I sell foodstuffs with my wife at Odo Kekere area of Ikorodu. I have always been part of the gang, and when we got the landlords job and wanted to kidnap our victims, they ran and we shot into the air. Four of them lay on the ground and we kidnapped them.  It was Osama that taught me how to shoot. I got N300,000 as my share.”

    The Force Public Relations Officer, Don Awuna, who confirmed the arrest, stated that the Inspector General of Police would not relent in his efforts to combat crime and criminality in the country and ensure the safety of all members of the public.

    He also said that efforts were in top gear to arrest more suspects, adding that those arrested will be charged to court.

  • Man goes to prison for forgery

    An Ebute Metta Chief Magistrate Court has sentenced one Durojaiye Busuyi to three years imprisonment with hard labour for forgery.

    Busuyi was prosecuted for forging a proficiency certificate from the Federal School of Radiography, Yaba, with registration number 1074/ serial number FGP 959/558/100.

    He was also said to have presented the certificate with the name Akinsoyinu Amose on July 4 at Jon-Ken Hospital 63, St. Finbarrs College Road, Akoka, to gain employment.

    The presiding magistrate, Mrs Demi Ajayi said: “The defendant must be made an example to others like him who think they can pretend to be a professional to the detriment of the society and get away with it.

    “The defendant is thereby sentenced to three years imprisonment with hard labour . At the end of his imprisonment, the prison authorities shall hand him over to the community service department in the Ministry of Justice to undergo counselling and community service of 200 hours.’’

  • Suspected kidnappers abandon Nigerian kids in Benin Republic

    Suspected kidnappers abandon Nigerian kids in Benin Republic

    Two unnamed children suspected to have been abducted in Nigeria by unknown persons have been sighted in Cotonou, Benin Republic.

    The children, according to a source, were found roaming the streets of Cotonou, penultimate Friday.

    The kids said they were looking for their grandmother when accosted by concerned residents of the francophone town.

    It was learnt that the minors revealed that their abductors asked them to find their way to their grandmother.

    Their explanation, according to the source suggested that they were kidnapped from their grandmother’s residence in Nigeria.

    The source, disclosed that the minors have since been taken to a police station in Tokpa Market, Cotonou, while efforts are on to locate their parents.

    ”The two kids were roaming aimlessly in the neighbourhood for several hours until some residents accosted them during which it emerged that they were actually ‘stolen’ from Nigeria to Cotonou by some identified persons.

    ”They revealed that they were abandoned by their captors on sighting some gendarmes and told to ask people for direction to their grandmother’s place,” the source added.

  • Our plan to kidnap Otedola —Robbery suspects

    Our plan to kidnap Otedola —Robbery suspects

    An armed robbery suspect, Ikechukwu Daniel, also known as Ike, has disclosed that his gang hatched a plan to kidnap the businessman Femi Otedola but it was foiled by the police.

    He also confessed that his gang, which was linked to the kidnap of Senator Iyabo Anisholowo, operated with military uniforms and hijacked three trailers on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway.

    Ike was arrested sometime in June at FESTAAC Town in Lagos while negotiating the ransom of a victim kidnapped in Ibadan. His disclosure emerged following Inspector-General of Police Ibrahim Idris’s directive to his Intelligence Response Team (IRT) to arrest anyone linked to the kidnap of Senator Iyabo Anisholowo as reported to the IGP.

    Within a few days of receiving the instruction, the IRT operatives arrested one Mohammed Babuga, and he owned up to the fact that he and one Mamman masterminded the kidnap. He confessed that he and Mamman robbed some people in Kwara State, along Kaduna road.

    They dispossessed innocent motorists of their belongings. During an argument with Mamman, however, Babuga said that he slapped the other for disrespect towards him as gang leader and the carelessness that put the police on their trail.

    Mamman, he said, got angry and went away to form his own gang of kidnappers with Boyi, Abubakar, Alayidi and Ike as members. Led by one Mohammed, the gang operated with three rifles: an AK 47, AK 49 and a pump action gun.

    Mamman’s gang confessed to have carried out six kidnapping raids: two in Ibadan, two in Ilorin and two in Kebbi State, and various ransoms were collected. The Kebbi State operation fetched the gang six million while it got N26.1 million from the Ilorin and Ibadan cases.

    Muhammedu Ganiu, who was also arrested, said his gang members were Saliu Nanayi and Katune. When Ike was arrested, Ganiu added, one Clinton and some men of Fulani stock joined their gang.

    Babuga, aged 32, said: “I am from Kebbi State. I am married with two children. I grew up in Ilorin and studied Business Administration at Kwara Polytechnic. In 2011, I used to drive some armed robbers who usually rob on the Kaduna road in Kwara State. I used to take them to the scene, and they paid me N156, 000 in three operations.

    “On the third operation, when taking them back to Ilorin, some vigilante men on guard arrested us and took us to the police where we were charged to court and I was remanded in prison. While I was in prison, I met Ike. But when I left prison, I joined a kidnap gang led by Boyi and Bubah Bube, and we kidnapped a Fulani man. We got four million naira and I was given N700, 000.

    “We did our second job (kidnapping) at Rejob, a boundary between Kebbi State and Niger. We collected two million and I got N250, 000. After that operation, I left Kebbi and relocated to Oyo State because there were no good roads. Boyi called me and said he wanted to join me, and he had an AK 47 rifle. One Abubakar, a herdsman, also had a pump action gun.

    “We contributed money and we bought a Honda Bullet car. Boyi brought a job which was to kidnap a man, but before we went for the job, Ike came and joined us and we did four jobs together before I was arrested. I was arrested because of a senator’s kidnap case.”

    Ike, aged 28, confessed that he dropped out of school and took to a life of crime. “I am from Imo State,” he said. “I dropped out from school in ABU Zaria. I was reading laboratory science in school, but I went to LAUTECH to initiate some new students (into robbery), but after the process we were arrested on our way back home. I was taken to prison and I spent one year in prison. My case was later struck out of court. When I returned I could not go back to school.

    “I was born and bred in Kaduna State and I speak the Hausa Language fluently. While I was in prison, I made friends with Mohammed, who is Fulani. We were in the same cell. After my one year in prison, I realised that prison wasn’t a place for reformation and I discovered that inmates were arranging jobs from the prison.

    “Mohammed came out of prison before me. But when I came out, he told me that I had joined a kidnapping gang. Before I went to prison I was into diversion (of goods). When I came out of prison I went back into diversion, and I did two jobs, but Mohammed asked to come and join his kidnap gang. In 2014, I joined Mohammed’s gang and we kidnapped a man. I don’t know the man’s name and we kept him in a forest in Ilorin, and we were paid five million naira.

    “On the second job, we kidnapped an Alhaji who was one of the people who later died at the stampede in Mecca. I did the negotiation in that kidnapping case and we got N15 million from the man’s family. I got N2 million as my share. I bought a car with my share.

    “The third operation was in Kwara State. We kidnapped a man who identified himself as Akintola. We received three million naira as ransom from the family. On the fourth operation, we kidnapped a victim who did not pay us something reasonable. I stay in FESTAAC Town. I paid the rent myself and I stay alone.”