The Nation Newspaper

Category: Crime Diary

  • Family agonises over N10m ransom as bandits abduct newly-married ABU student

    Family agonises over N10m ransom as bandits abduct newly-married ABU student

    Family members of a 28-year-old student of Ahmadu Bello University kidnapped by bandits on Kaduna-Abuja highway are in a dilemma as her kidnappers insist on taking N10 million as ransom, reports KUNLE AKINRINADE.

    It was like a scene from the movies on Saturday, March 5, 2022, when sporadic gunshots from men in military camouflage halted an 18-passenger bus at Jere section of the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

    There was confusion as fearful passengers rushed out of the bus and ran in different directions for their lives with gunshots renting the air. It turned out that the uniformed men were not security forces but bandits disguising as soldiers to intercept travellers and carry out abductions.

    The arrival of a detachment of soldiers on routine patrol restored the confidence of the fleeing passengers to come out of hiding and continue their journey to Lagos. But by the time normalcy was restored by the minions of the law, two of the passengers conveyed by the bus had been seized by the gun-wielding hoodlums and dragged into the bush. According to one of the passengers of the bus who narrowly escaped being kidnapped, two of the occupants of the bus fled into the waiting hands of the hoodlums who were in the nearby bush.

    “We panicked when the guns continued to boom ceaselessly and we all fled in different directions. By the time soldiers arrived at the scene to drive the bandits away, a man and one Miss Halimat Oguntoyinbo, a student of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, had been seized by the bandits who ran with them into the nearby forest,” said one of the escapees who identified herself simply as Aaliyah.

    “I don’t know the name of the other person abducted by the bandits, but Halimat and I were seated on the seat behind the driver and we had launched into a friendly conversation as we journeyed on until the hoodlums attacked our bus. She told me that she stays in Lagos and that she came to the university to submit her final year project.”

    Our correspondent gathered that Halimat was looking forward to completing her post-graduate programme at Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, Kaduna State when she visited the university to consummate her final year project.

    She had earlier earned her first degree in Geology in the same university just before her family relocated to Ogun State, following the retirement of her father who passed away last year. She was yet to adjust to life in Lagos where she resides with her husband after she got married in November last year.

    “She was in the school to secure a nod for Masters in Geology, and upon finishing with the presentation of her completed work for scrutiny by faculty supervisors, she set out to return to her base in Lagos on Saturday, March 5, 2022, hoping that the stress she had gone through in putting the project together would pay off by the time her project would be approved and she would graduate from the school,” said a source who asked not to be named.

    “She had boarded an 18-passenger Toyota bus at Mando Park en route Lagos, not knowing the fate that laid in wait for her and other passengers on the bus on the Kaduna-Abuja Expressway.

    “The bus was suddenly flagged down by some men in military camouflage, who shot sporadically after halting the bus. It turned out that the men were bandits who disguised as soldiers to terrorise commuters and motorists in the axis.

    “We learnt that Halimat and other passengers rushed out of the bus and fled in different directions. However, others came out of hiding when some soldiers arrived at the scene and returned to the bus to continue their journey but 27-year-old Halimat did not return. It turned out that she had run into the waiting hands of the bandits who had laid an ambush in the direction she fled inside the bush nearby.

    The Kaduna-Abuja highway has gained notoriety for banditry with many travellers abducted or killed by hoodlums on the road.

    It will be recalled that the police recently killed a notorious bandit terrorising the Kaduna-Abuja highway on November 24, 2021. The hoodlum identified as Yellow Magaji was shot dead by the operatives in Kaduna.

    According to the spokesman of Kaduna Police Command, ASP Muhammed Jalige, operatives of the Kaduna State Police Command in collaboration with the Federal Intelligence Bureau and Special Tactical Squad Force headquarters, Abuja, on the directive of the Commissioner of Police, CP Mudassiru Abdullahi, acted on credible intelligence and raided a hospitality outfit, Sir Joe Guest Inn, located at No.8 Sajo Street, Unguwan Maigero Area of Sabon Tasha in Chikun LGA of Kaduna State, where suspected bandits were said to have lodged.

    He said: “While the cautiously coordinated raid was ongoing, the suspected bandits on sensing danger took to their heels, shooting sporadically, leading to a gun duel with the operatives.

    “One notorious bandit popularly called Yellow Magaji a.k.a Arushe was wounded in the shootout whereas his equally notorious partner, Yellow Ashana, and others escaped with bullet wounds.

    “He was thereafter taken to Barau Dikko Teaching Hospital for possible resuscitation in a bid to obtain useful information but was confirmed dead on arrival by a medical doctor.”

    Family in agony over N10m ransom

    While Halimat who got married on November 27, 2021, underwent torture in the hands of the hoodlums, her family members were oblivious of the condition fate has thrown her into until the driver of the bus got in touch with her family after checking the bus manifest where the phone contact of her next of kin was written and broke the news of Halimat’s abduction to her family.

    A family friend who craved anonymity said: “On Saturday, March 5, the driver of the 18 passenger bus she was travelling in called her mother, saying that Halimat had been kidnapped by bandits.

    “They were attacked at Jere, a village along the Kaduna-Abuja highway. The driver said that other passengers returned to the bus after some soldiers came to their rescue. Two of the passenger including Halimat did not return.

    “The bandits wore military camouflage and shot sporadically when they attacked the bus. The driver of the bus later asked Halimat’s husband to come to a motor park in Ogere, Ogun State to identify her luggage and take them.

    “On Wednesday, March 9, the bandits got in touch with her family on the telephone and demanded that a ransom of N100 million be paid to secure her freedom.

    “The hoodlums briefly gave the phone to Halimat to enable her to speak with her mother and also urge one of her sisters to convince her mother to cooperate with them by paying the ransom.

    “The family pleaded for reduction in the amount but the hoodlums declined, threatening to severely deal with Halimat if the money was not paid. We later learnt that the sum had been reduced to N10 million, which the family still cannot afford.

    “The victim’s father died last year and the family has just relocated to Ogun State from Kaduna while the husband does not have that kind of money to get her out of the dungeon of the bandits.”

    She added: “Halimat’s mother is hypertensive and the plight of her daughter has worsened her health condition so far. For now, we are only praying that those who kidnapped her would see reason to reduce the ransom to what the family said they can afford.”

    Speaking with our correspondent, Halimat’s sister, Tawakalit Oguntoyinbo, said the family was in a dilemma as they feared for her safety while the amount demanded by the kidnappers has not been secured due to paucity of funds.

    “We are worried by the unfortunate development. We lost our father just last year and our mother is still managing her health condition.

    “My sister’s husband too doesn’t have the kind of money the kidnappers are demanding and we fear for Halimat’s life as she is still being held by her abductors, who have insisted on nothing but the N10 million ransom.

    She added: “When we were allowed to speak to Halimat on the phone, she told us to sell whatever we have to bail her out (of captivity). She (Halimat) said she was in pains.”

  • Our battles with global warming, by herders

    Our battles with global warming, by herders

    Livestock farming, one of the oldest businesses in human history, is at the risk of extinction in the country as global warming gets worse. It has been a harrowing experience for many farmers in the northern part of the country as climate change has made water and vegetation very scarce, causing their animals to die in their numbers. Besides, many herders have been gruesomely killed as they migrate from one place to the other in search of water and vegetation for their herds, INNOCENT DURU reports.

    Garus Galolo, a livestock farmer based in Benue State recently saw his kinsmen leave the country to seek greener pastures for their herds.

    Their decision to leave the country followed the intensity of global warming on account of which the water and vegetation their animals needed were drying up, causing many of their herds to die.

    Galolo’s kinsmen  were full of hope as they marched out of the country with their herds, believing that life would be better elsewhere. Unfortunately, some of them never arrived at their destination as they were attacked and murdered.

    He said: “No fewer than six of them have died in the course of migrating to neighbouring countries.

    “I lost three of them between the borders of Nigeria and Cameroon.  They wanted to cross to Cameroon when some youths attacked and killed them.

    “The lucky survivors have since moved to Eritrea.

    “Three others were killed between Oyo State and Benin Republic, in a place called Shabe.

    “The first three were living in Okum in Benue State while the others were resident in Ogun State.

    “They left Nigeria because the problem was too much for them to bear.

    “They had nowhere to graze, nowhere for their cattle to get water among other challenges.

    “They lost some of their cows too.

    “When you are crossing to other places there is no way you can cross by leg. You have to pay N5,000 on each cow to youths who mount road blocks even when you have the cows inside a vehicle.

    “In some places, government officials would seize your cows and you have to pay N50,000 on each one to secure them. If 20 of your cows are seized, it means you would pay N1 million to get them. How many cows would a herder sell to get that?”

    Galolo lamented that he has lost nothing less than N350 million to the challenge of global warming. This, he said, was besides the losses recorded by his other kinsmen.

    “I have become poor as a result of these. Some herders who once had more than a million cows can hardly boast of 10 now.

    “The rivers around Katsina Ala up to Gue in Benue State have dried up. The water in Lake Chad area has almost dried up. Water is no more flowing there as it used to.

    “If you go to Katsina border, you will be shocked at the number of herders that are taking their cows to Niger Republic just to graze them and return to Nigeria the following morning.

    “If they stay here, the bandits would come, kill them and collect the cows.”

    Further explaining why his kinsmen are leaving Nigeria, he said: “Grasses have also dried up in many places. Formerly, In Kura area of Kano and parts of Bauchi State, you would see cattle drinking water. But now there is no more water there. Even the Eritrea they are going to suffers the same fate.”

    In Yobe and adjoining areas, the plight of herders and their animals could move one to tears. Many of the cows look pale, suggesting that they have not had had sufficient  water and grass to feed on.

    The water level was too low in few places where it was available. To access the water, donkeys or camels were used to get them. Unfortunately, what comes out as water is sand with little fluid hovering over it. “Our livestock drink sand in the name of water,” said the National President of Kulen Allah Cattle Rearers Association of Nigeria, (KACRAN), Yobe chapter, Hon. Khalil Mohammed Bello, said.

    “We use donkeys and horses to get water from the well. Ropes are tied on the camels for them to get the water. A human being cannot do it except you use camels or donkeys to get the water. From morning till night, the animals cannot get enough water to drink. They even risk being contaminated and dying drinking such water.

    “Livestock are living things; they cannot survive without water. Most of the northern states have no water and that is why most herders are moving to the south where there is much vegetation and water.

    “Before now, you would see livestock at the Lake Chad Basin in their thousands and even in millions, eating any type of pasture and drinking water at any time.

    “Now it has dried completely. There is nothing there except sand.

    “When you come to northern Yobe, you have to go very, very deep because the water has gone down.  All this is attributable to climate change.”

    The KACRAN boss lamented that global warming has brought drastic changes that have led to the death of their animals.

    “You would see a cow being sold for N700 or N1,000 and slaughtered when they are about to die.

    “After the dry season, before fresh grasses start coming out, the animals would be dying.

    “Many of them die before they are slaughtered.

    “If you take a slaughtered one to the market, they would just price it N500 or N700.  Sometimes you would not even be able to get the money that you spent transporting them.  We lose thousands of animals.”

    Corroborating Galolo’s claims of attacks on herders, Bello said: “Our people are often attacked while moving around. You may see a herder with 1,000 animals now and the next minute, he would not have any again. The cattle would have been rustled.

    “Our people have been leaving the country for places like Ghana and Benin Republic.

    “Initially, they were moving to Cameroon and Chad, but because of insecurity, they don’t go to those places again. That is why our people are now moving to the southern part of the country.

    “There in the south you will find that there is also a problem between herders and farmers.

    “You know that in the South they have limited land space. Because of the challenges of vegetation and water, they move to Benin Republic and Ghana or Central  Africa.”

    More lamentation over climate challenge

    The Director Media  and Publicity  Miyetti Allah Cattle Breeders Association of Nigeria, (MACBAN) Kaduna State, Ibrahim Bayero Zango,  and his members have also suddenly grown grey hair over the setback that global warming has had on their only source of livelihood.

    He said: “We are the worst affected people when it comes to desertification or climate change problem.

    “With desertification, there is no place to graze our animals, and that is why our people are moving down south.

    “Those who are in Katsina, Zamfara and Sokoto states are fewer than those in Kogi State today because of climate change.

    “They have deserted the core north states because of climate change and moved to the south where there are greener pastures.”

    Going down memory lane, he said: “About 20 years ago, the climate problem was not as bad as it is now.  It was a little bit better as there were drinking points all over.  All the streams were having water all through the seasons.

    “But now, especially in the dry season like this, you hardly find water to give your animals in the core north areas.

    “These dams that were established in the early 70s and 80s have been eroded.  When animals have no water to drink, they die.

    “My uncle’s cows died recently because rain did not fall on time. He lost eight cows and sold five at giveaway prices to buy feeds for the rest.”

    Also decrying the attitude of butchers when they (herders) are in distress, he said: “When animals are about to die and they are slaughtered, butchers would carry them and give you whatever they like. Some would not even give you anything until you go to meet them in the market.

    “When you meet them, they could buy something worth N500 and give to you as compensation for the animal. They would tell you there was no profit from it and that they even assisted you by helping you to evacuate the animals.”

    Explaining that they cannot afford to stay in a place because of the havoc wreaked by climate change,  he said: “We keep moving to make sure that our animals have something to eat and drink. If it is getting worse here, you move elsewhere on foot with the animals. It has never been easy.

    “When it is dry season, you cannot get milk from the cows anymore and you would not want to sell at that time because cows would be too cheap.

    “At times, you have to spend more than five days in one place because the animals are tired and can no longer move because of hunger.”

    Chairman of MACBAN in Plateau State, Muhammad Nuru Abdulahi, is no less disturbed by the development.

    He said: “Climate change has affected many businesses here in the north. The dryness of the areas is of concern especially in the dry seasons.

    “We used to have streams from where we were getting water all-round the seasons,  but now they do dry up at the point when we really need the water.

    “Before now, when people burnt bushes, fresh grasses would germinate and animals would feed on those fresh grasses, but it is no longer so. If they are burnt, they would not germinate until rain falls. This affects our business.”

    When there are no fresh grasses, Abdulahi said, he resorts to buying feeds at cut-throat rates to feed the animals.

    “The feeds are very expensive,” he said, adding:  “I have lost a number of animals, both old ones and calves, to climate problems. When the old ones are not feeding well, the young ones they are breastfeeding will be affected.

    “I have lost about 10. In money terms, on a good day, I would sell each for between N250,000 and N300,000.”

    30 to 40 per cent of animals produced annually affected

    The Chairman of Miyetti Allah in Bauchi State, Sadiq Ibrahim Ahmed, was full of regrets about how climate change has affected the fortunes of farmers in the region.

    He said: “If you look at the climate in the north, especially the North East and Bauchi in particular, if you look back to the past 15 years compared to now, you will definitely agree that climate change has seriously affected the economic potentials of the North East, especially Bauchi State.

    “Rainfall, which is a crucial factor in livestock farming, has reduced to a level you don’t expect. In the past two to three years, rainfall has started in late June and end around September.

    “All the watering points have dried up. If you look at all the animals in the North now,  they hardly get water to drink. And once there is no water, you don’t talk about grasses to feed the animals.

    “If you had 1,000 or 500 herds in the last five years, you just have to dispose of them or you will not be able to rear them.”

    He also expressed concern that the temperature around the North is rising to a very high level and it is very dangerous for the animals.   “Crop production goes alongside with animal production. The byproducts of crop farming are what animals feed on.

    “In recent times, crop farmers have also been affected by climate change. Most of their crops dry up before the end of September.

    Before October or November, all the by-products would have dried up or the few that are available would have been eaten up by animals.

    “By January/February, all the rivers would have dried up. The implications are that they keep shrinking and  dying when they don’t have food  and water to consume.

    “This is very serious around the months of April and May before the rains come.  You would find that about 30 to 40 per cent of the animals produced annually are affected and it is recurring.

    “If something urgent is not done, in the next five years, you will hardly see animals to breed.”

    He added: “In the next two months now, when animals sleep, it is when people come near them and kick them that they will stand up. At times they would not even be able to stand up.

    “If you go around the market around April/May, there is always an abundance of meat because farmers are forced to sell off their animals.

    “Some of the animals die; some are sold at giveaway prices. A cow that could be sold for N200,000 would be sold for a paltry N50,000.”

    The challenge, he further said,  “is compelling our people to look for alternative means of livelihood, but I don’t know which alternative. It is an indication of poverty in the nation.

    “Food scarcity is the end of it because there would be no meat and food for farmers to sell. If something urgent is not done, definitely, we are likely to lose our major source of protein.”

    Bleak future for livestock business

    Following the intractable challenges posed by climate change, herders fear that their business risks extinction.

    Galolo said: “The business is not okay for us now not to talk of the future. Maybe people would begin to rear cats in the long run.

    “I can’t tell the government to do anything again. Let God do anything that pleases Him.

    “The government is not ready to do anything for us. We have taken ourselves as not being citizens of Nigeria. God will bring someone who will help us.”

    Bello, the KACRAN leader, is also worried about the future of the business.

    “The future is very bleak. If you want to rear livestock here in Nigeria without any problem, it is in the north. Now our people have to leave the north for the south or even leave the country completely.

    “That is why livestock is now too expensive. It is with extreme difficulty that herders can survive.

    “Even the livestock that survive being stolen or rustled, to feed them is a problem.

    “The future is bleak except northern governors and the federal government do the needful.”

    Speaking in the same vein, Ibrahim Bayero said there is no future for their business if the government continues to ignore forestation and establishment of green belt that it ought to have established in the far north since the Second Republic.  “They also need to establish dams in the grazing reserves. When this is done, our people will return there. Until the government does that, our people will always leave the northern part for the southern part.

    “Now there are more herders in the southern part than there are in the north. All the dams in Safana Grazing Reserve in Katsina State have dried up. The same thing applies to the one at Kotangora Grazing Reserve and the ones in Gombe.”

    Leader of the herders in Plateau State, Muhammad Abdulahi, feared that their business faces a daunting challenge with climate change and may collapse.

    “Our people face serious security challenge travelling to other African countries.  We have had some of them killed, especially those travelling to Cameroon.  Even this year, some of them were travelling from Kogi to Adamawa but were attacked here in Plateau State. Two persons were killed together with their cows.”

  • Intrigues, suspicion as fire outbreak consumes 50 corpses in Anambra mortuary

    Intrigues, suspicion as fire outbreak consumes 50 corpses in Anambra mortuary

    BARELY three years after more than 50 corpses were burnt to ashes at the Enugwu-Ukwu General Hospital Mortuary in Njikoka Local Government Area of Anambra State, another mysterious fire reportedly consumed no fewer than 400 corpses deposited at the General Hospital, Onitsha, the commercial nerve centre of the state.

    Although concerned authorities blamed the ugly incidents on bush burning, residents and stakeholders are of the opinion that the fire outbreaks have more to it than meets the eye.

    While sources had attributed the Enugu-Ukwu incident to a fire that started from a nearby bush, the mortuary, located only a few metres away from other buildings in the hospital, was surprisingly the only one affected by the inferno.

    The State Governor, Willie Obiano, had immediately ordered that a panel be set up to look into the remote and immediate causes of the fire outbreak.

    Describing it as double tragedy, the governor commiserated with the victims and pledged to immediately commence reconstruction of the burnt building.

    He urged relatives of the deceased who besieged the morgue with wailing to exercise patience with the mortuary attendants.

    Among the burnt corpses was said to be that of a prominent man in the area who died in the USA, and was brought home for burial in January 2019, while his relations were renovating his house in readiness for the burial.

    President-General of Enugwu Ukwu Development Union, Bonny Nkwoagu, had expressed regrets over the difficulty in controlling the fire, blaming it on the harmattan.

    He said although the fire fighters arrived on time, they ran out of water, and it was while they were away to fetch water that the mortuary got burnt.

    Three years after the public waited in vain for the outcome of Obiano’s panel’s findings, the mortuary section of Onitsha General Hospital also went up in flames.

    It was wailing and lamentation when our correspondent visited the scene of the fire incident on Sunday as families whose members’ corpses were deposited in the mortuary thronged the hospital.

    Some who had come to carry their corpses for burial were seen sobbing uncontrollably as they were unable to identify the corpses they had deposited.

    One of them, Charles Ozor, said: “We came to take the corpse of a community member for burial only for us to see that the corpses in the morgue had been burnt beyond recognition. We are confused. We don’t know what to do.”

    An eyewitness who spoke to our correspondent in confidence claimed that someone had set the bush behind the morgue on fire after clearing it.

    He said: “The bush is a bit far from the mortuary. But before we knew what was happening, we saw that the roof of the mortuary had caught fire. There were over 400 corpses inside the building.

    “The entire place was engulfed by fire. Before firefighters came, the fire had caused a lot of damage. Most of the corpses were burnt to ashes and some beyond recognition.

    “The firefighters battled to stop the fire from spreading to other buildings. In fact, the water in their tank finished and they had to go and refill elsewhere because the hospital does not have a water facility on its premises.”

    Confirming the incident, the Director, State Fire Service, Engr. Martin Agbili, said the fire incident, which occurred around 12.43 pm, was caused by bush burning.

    He said that all the corpses deposited in the morgue were burnt beyond recognition.

    Agbili said: “We received a distress call from the General Hospital, Onitsha, and we deployed our men and the firefighters’ equipment to put out the fire.

    “We found that the fire came through the bush and we have been telling people to ensure that they cut the bushes around their houses and avoid bush burning because in this harmattan period, fire can come from anywhere, even from a far distance, because every surface is dry and inflammable.”

    The operator of the morgue, who identified himself as Emmanuel Onugbo, said the morgue had been contracted to a private concern.

    He said: “I had gone to Awka to bring some corpses. While I was there, I was informed on the phone about the fire outbreak and I rushed down immediately.

    “Before I arrived here, the fire had done a lot of damage.

    “The fire burnt both fresh and abandoned corpses packed inside the morgue.

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    “The chemicals we used in preserving the corpses must have aggravated the fire. The chemicals are highly inflammable and they burn faster than fuel.”

    He said government had directed that the owners of the corpses in the morgue should come and claim them or risk mass burial in the shortest time.

    Reacting to the unfortunate incident, a mortician, who asked not to be named, described the fire outbreak as mysterious, saying that his years of experience proved that corpses could be angry and could act as living beings.

    He said: “It was a mysterious fire. I’m suspecting that some angry ghosts must have done this.

    “A day before this incident, we came to work and discovered that no fewer than 10 corpses were brought outside by unknown persons.

    “My experience as a mortician shows that these corpses can be angry and act as if they are alive. They fight themselves here every night. We hear their noise.

    “I’m sure that some of them that were angry set that mortuary ablaze, because there is no way the mortuary can catch fire without these people (dead bodies).

    “What you should know is that any dead person who has not been officially buried and the funeral is performed, his spirit hovers and acts like any of us living.

    “They can be angry; they can be happy; they do anything you and I can do.

    “Sometimes we hear them sing, sometimes they quarrel amongst themselves. They even cook. We see a lot of things here.

    ”Some of them have overstayed here without being claimed by their relations act funny. I strongly believe those of them in that class must have done this.”

    Another resident, who identified himself simply as Jude, alleged ritual undertone to the development.

    He said: “Mortuary fire outbreaks in Nigeria often occur when mortuary attendants involved in sale of human parts set fire to them because they are e in danger of being found out by families coming to carry their dead.

    “It may surprise you to know that up to 30% of corpses in mortuaries these days are tampered with? It is now big business to cut off body parts and sell.

    “They know that many families won’t check their corpses to know if their parts are intact before taking them home.

    The trend will cease the moment families of the dead begin to insist on inspecting the bodies of loved ones before taking them away. But you know it is not easy.”

    “Over 50 corpses were burnt beyond recognition and Obiano himself described it as double tragedy.”

  • Disquiet in Ondo over assassination of Owo high chief

    Disquiet in Ondo over assassination of Owo high chief

    Operatives of the Ondo State Police Command are battling to unravel the biggest murder case in Owo kingdom: the brutal killing of one of its high chiefs, Ilori Tunde, the Elerewe of Owo Kingdom. Already, some suspects have been arrested and are being questioned.

    But members of the deceased’s family are not happy with the police handling of the matter and have written to the Department of State Services (DSS) to take over investigation of the case.

    The late Elerewe of Owo Kingdom was shot at close range by some gunmen over a disputed farmland on Owo-Ute Road. He was returning from a fact finding mission on the disputed parcel of land when he was ambushed by the masked gunmen.

    He was in company of the delegation sent by the Monarch of Owo, the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Ogunoye III, to seek a peaceful resolution of the dispute over the farmland. Witnesses said he was shot in the eye while others ran for safety even though they were hit by pellets.

    Protest broke out in the community and attempts were made to set ablaze the house and store of a prominent member of the community believed to have had a hand in the Elerewe’s death before the timely intervention of the community’s elders who promised to ensure that justice was done in the matter.

    However, the late Elerewe’s family members believe that the killing over the farmland was a smokescreen for the real reason the Elerewe was killed. They fingered a former Chairman of Owo local government, Oluwole Folahanmi, and other persons who were subsequently arrested and questioned.

    An eyewitness, Oseni Oronbato (53), who said he was in the same vehicle with the late Chief Ilori Tunde and four other occupants when the tragic incident occurred, said: ”On that fateful Wednesday, we went to the disputed farmland on the instruction of the Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin Ogunoye III.

    “On our way back, I saw two men who were part of the opposition party on a motorbike as they overtook our vehicle.

    “We were six in our vehicle with a village head, Atelegi Alamuren of Ogain. He is the head of a community and we wanted to drop him at his farm camp.

    “About 15 minutes after we took off, we heard the sound of a burst tyre, not knowing that it was the assailants who had fired gunshots into our tyres.

    “As we stopped to take a look at the tyres, one of the masked men came closer and shot into Elerewe’s eyes at close range. The bullets went into his brain and he died instantly.

    “They continued to fire gunshots from behind and some pellets entered my head. I thank God that they did not enter my brain. But the pellets removed my scalp while one went into my back and another into my hand.

    “It was God that rescued me from the place. I could not see the faces of the assailants because they were all masked. “The one of us who was sitting with Chief Elerewe in the front quickly opened the door and escaped but the assailants went after him. But one of us who had escaped ran back, opened the car door and seeing that I had not died, dragged me out and we started running in order to escape.

    “Although I was bleeding, the two of us ran for about three miles to Amurin Agayin Farm Camp. It was from here that one of us took his (Elerewe’s) phone and called his wife to tell her what had happened and they called the Amotekun, the state’s security outfit.

    “The Amotekun arrived to rescue us and also went to pick up Elerewe’s body. They removed 11 pellets from my body and seven from my head. They also removed two bullets from my back. One of them dug a hole in my chest as X-ray revealed.

    “I was taken to Akure that night where an X-ray was done on my hands, chest and other parts of my body. The hospital said they could not remove the bullets, but I was given drugs to relieve me of the pains.

    “I spent four days at the Federal Medical Centre, Owo. From there, I was taken to Iyere-Owo where the trado-medical removed the bullets. But I am still having pains.

    “It was cartridges that they shot at me. But I suspect that Elerewe was shot with an AK 47 and they aimed at his eye. His eye gouged out as the bullet penetrated his brain.

    “I spent four days in the hospital. I also spent up to N300,000. The money was raised by my family members in addition to what I had.”

    Elerewe’s widow, Doris, who wept intermittently in a chat with our correspondent, said her husband was killed over chieftaincy and land tussles.

    She said: ”Before and since my husband was conferred with his chieftaincy title in 2018, his opponent has been attacking him. At a time, he cooked up stories that the late Chief Elerewe was an armed robber and a killer.

    “He took my husband to Abuja where he was unlawfully detained for weeks. The said suspect sold the family’s property and emptied the family’s treasury but my late husband kept his cool.

    “He threatened my late husband several times that he should relinquish the title or else he would kill him. He had collected more than 10 years rent from the land, which the First Bank had their building on.

    “When my late husband approached the bank and gave them quit notice and the suspect was informed, he quickly ran to the bank.

    “The bank’s managers should be summoned to say what they know about these illegal transactions.

    “Now, who will take care of my children? Imagine, they have hacked into my late husband’s account and deleted his account from Facebook.’’

    The late Elerewe’s elder sister, Mrs. Adeola Olayinka (nee Elerewe), said her younger brother had not known peace since he was conferred with the family’s chieftaincy title, Elerewe. According to her, the late Elerewe’s problems stemmed from the chieftaincy title that was awarded him and the disputed farmland left behind by his grandfather and high chief, Olakunori Elerewe.

    Olayinka said that the Owo branch of First Bank which rented the family land was given a quit notice by the late Elerewe as their rent was almost due. But his rival who had collected 10 years rent and also took a loan from the bank became jittery and had to do whatever he could to stop the deceased chief from exposing him the more.

    She said: ”The managers of the bank should be summoned to give evidence of the transactions. The police should investigate this thoroughly.

    “I was called that evening that my brother had been shot, and when I got to Owo, I was hearing all manner of stories.

    “I was told that the first shot was on the tyres, making the late chief to think it was his tyre that burst. As he stopped and was about to come out to look at the tyre, the assassins opened fire on him at close range.

    “The sight of the corpse was too gory. I learnt they used AK 47 on him. We have gone spiritual. We have called his spirit and he told us who killed him. But we want all those who had hands in it to be arrested and investigated.

    “They must not go scot free

    “The late chief gave the First Bank branch located on the family’s ground a quit notice and some secrets leaked out. That was part of the reasons why he was killed.

    “The suspect had several times threatened the late chief who was murdered in cold blood over all this. The culprits should be brought to book.’’

    Mrs. Kehinde Daramola (nee Olateru-Olagbegi) said her late cousin was killed for no just reason. She implored the state and federal governments to make sure that justice is served.

    She said: ”All Owo people know who killed Chief Elerewe. We want justice. They should investigate thoroughly and leave no stone unturned. If a man of such caliber could be killed and nothing happens, then nobody is free.

    “The assassins were paid to kill the man for no just cause. It is bad. The Inspector General of Police should wade into the matter and treat it urgently because those indicted are trying to use their political power to sweep it under the carpet. This is one death too many.”

    The Olowo of Owo, Oba Ajibade Gbadegesin Ogunoye III, who confirmed the incident, said the police were investigating the story. He expressed hope that justice would be done.

    He, however, pleaded with the people of the community not to take the law into their own hands.

    ‘The late Chief Elerewe was a very good man. He was 100 per cent loyal to me. I am sad,” he said.

    When contacted for comments, Ondo Police Commissioner, Oyeyemi Oyediran, said some suspects had been arrested in connection with the killing and that investigations were still going on.

    Among the suspects questioned were Idowu Obadaye, Atiloye Jacob, Aboba, Tunde Olamona, Kehinde Ogunmolawa (Okupe) Aderobagun Adekola and a former Owo Council Chairman, Oluwole Folahanmi

    However, Oluwole Folahanmi, who was fingered as the main suspect in the killing, has been released by the police.

    Oluwole told our reporter in a phone chat that the allegations leveled against him were false as he had no reason to kill the late Elerewe. He recalled that he contested the Elerewe chieftaincy title with the late Elerewe and topped the list but the former was later installed.

    He said it was because he contested against the late Elerewe in 2010 that people are accusing him of being behind the killings.

    He said: “The late Elerewe is my junior (younger) brother. Myself and others contested the chieftaincy title together. That was in 2010. I won but the title was given to him.

    “I have no grudge against him. I am not concern about the land that he was killed for. The land is not my family land.

    “The land on which First Bank is built is our father’s property. Whoever is the Elerewe is in charge of the bank.

    “My father was a former Elerewe. He collected money for about 10 years. I do not know anything about that. They should go and meet the bank. The allegation against me is false.

    “We contested for chieftaincy title. He was killed over a land dispute. I have no involvement in the land dispute. It was because I contested against him that they are mentioning my name.

    “The police invited me but saw that it was false allegation. They saw that I contested against him, but if anything happens to him elsewhere, I will now be held responsible.

    “When he was imposed on our family, I didn’t shoot a gun. I accepted my fate. Is it not since 2010? And I will now want to harm him? That is not possible.”

    Lawyer to Folahanmi, Olatunbosun Aganun, said the police exercised its discretionary powers after preliminary investigation showed that he (Folahanmi) was not involved in any complicity in the murder case.

    He said his client could not be indicted over the murder of late Elerewe just because he ( Folahanmi) contested Elerewe Chieftaincy title 11 years ago.

    Aganun said: “The late Chief Elerewe had land dispute with a family from Iloro Quarter of Owo and it was the scene of the land dispute that the parties visited as directed by the Traditional Arbitration mediating over the land dispute between the late Chief Tunde Ilori Elerewe and the other family.

    “It was on their way back from the scene of the land dispute that the late chief was shot and killed by yet to be identified gunmen.

    “Hon. Oluwole Folahanmi has no interest in the land in dispute and he is not in any way connected with the land in dispute.

    “He has accepted fate upon the illegal installation of the late Tunde Ilori as the Elerewe of Owo Kingdom by the late Olowo of Owo (Oba) Dr. D.V.F. Olateru Olagbegi III over five years ago even when there was a pending litigation in court of competent jurisdiction over the Elerewe chieftaincy tussle.

    “There’s no nexus between Hon. Oluwole Folahanmi and the crime, hence the police has no reason detaining him any further upon preliminary investigation.”

    Not satisfied with the police investigation, wife of the late Elerewe, Olori Tolani Elerewe, in a petition to the Police Service Commission, called for a thorough investigation “on the involvement of all the investigating officers at homicide department, Akure in order to prevent a gross miscarriage of justice”.

    Olori Tolani who wrote through her lawyer, T.A Oyolola, said she had lost confidence in the manner in which the case was being handled by the investigating officers.

    In another petition to the DSS, Olori Tolani urged the State Director to call for the case file at state CID Akure, Ondo State for a thorough investigation in order to unravel the hideout of the killers as well as prosecute those who were involved in her husband’s killing in the interest of justice.

    “Our client is willing to honour invitation from your office for the purpose of further clarifications of the above alleged offences,” the statement said.

  • ‘How bandits killed our husbands, made us widows’

    ‘How bandits killed our husbands, made us widows’

    The bandit attacks in several communities across Niger State, especially Shiroro Local Government Area which seems to be the worst hit, has left a lot of people bereaved of their loved ones. Women have become widows, men have become widowers while children have become orphans or left with a parent to take care of them. In this report, JUSTINA ASISHANA spoke to some widows in the Shiroro Local Government Area whose husbands died as a result of bandit attacks.

    For three years, Kaure, a community in Niger State had succeeded in warding-off bandits’ attacks, however, on this fateful Tuesday, the bandits came with renewed vigour and determination to wipe out the whole community.

    Surprised by the fierce attack, the residents of Kaure community took to their heels for safety; however, not all were lucky as a lot of men, boys and women were killed during the attack.

    The women were the worst hit as over 20 of them lost their husbands on that fateful day in 2019, this development and the realization that they were no longer safe led them to leave their community for safety at the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camp in Gwada in Shiroro Local Government Area of Niger State.

    “He was tall and handsome; he used to call me his ‘Mummy’, he tried as much as he could to ensure that I and my children were well taken care of. For the past three years, nobody has called me ‘La-mummy’ which was the pet name he always called me. I miss him so much, we were married for over 20 years, he was a good father and the best husband,” Laraba Musa, one of the widows in the IDP camp in Kuta stated.

    She said that she never thought of the goodbye she gave to her husband before leaving for the farm that fateful day would be the final goodbye she said to her husband.

    “I was not around when the attack happened, I went to the farm only to return and meet my husband’s body on the ground, covered with cloth.  I feel sad whenever I remember that fateful day because when I was going to the farm that morning, I said goodbye to him, we joked and laughed and he told me what he wanted for dinner but I did not know that it was the final farewell I was giving to him.”

    Laraba said that with the shock of seeing her husband’s body and the fear that the bandits were going to return, the majority of them slept in the bush that night and the next morning, after the burial of her husband, she took some of her things and that of her children and left the village in order not to be the victim of another attack.

    “My husband did not get the proper burial, everything was done in a hurry because of the fear that the bandits would attack anytime soon. Even that day, they kept the body of my husband and other people who died in a place and we all slept in the bush so that if the bandits come at night, they won’t be able to get any of us. It was the next morning that my husband was buried alongside others. It was sad that he had to die and be buried like that.”

    Now a resident in the IDP camp in Gwada, Laraba is left to cope with her last son, as her other children have left the camp to other places to seek for work. According to her, her son, Audu is the one who goes out to look for menial work that would enable them to get something to eat and take care of themselves.

    •Inside the IDP camp

    “I depend on my son who goes out to do menial jobs to ensure that he brings in money to help us feed. I depend on him very well. If he does not go, we would have nothing to eat,” she said.

    For Godiya Teminu, she remembers vividly how her husband was killed saying that he was shot when they were running to safety, ” vividly, I remember that the people who killed my husband were Fulanis. I am also from the Kaure community.

    “On that fateful day, we were all at home relaxing when the bandits struck. We were all scattered, running helter-skelter for safety. My husband was shot when he was running everybody was running for safety but I saw when he was shot but I could not wait because I had to run for safety too. A lot of people were killed on that day including my husband and since then, life has not been the same for me and my children,” she recounted.

    Godiya said that unlike before the death of her husband when she would not bother to look for money or what she and her family would eat, now she has three children to cater for and she needs to do some menial work to ensure that they can eat at least once daily.

    “My husband, before he was killed, was the one who was always working to bring food to the house. What I was only doing was to keep the house and cook, we also had a farm where I worked sometimes. So going out to look for money was very strange to me but I realized that if I did not do it, nobody would do it for us,” she said sadly.

    Godiya lamented that the dream of her husband that their children would get to the highest level of education they desire is being thwarted as her children have not attended school in the past two years as there is no money to enrol them into the public primary school where they have been living for the past two years.

    “To survive, we usually go outside the camp to search for jobs to survive. We sometimes help people to carry goods in the market. My children have not been going to school, none of them, there is no money to enrol them, for now. We are thinking of money to eat and not money to enrol the children in school. This is different from how we lived when my husband was alive. We had no worries at all but now, I worry about everything. These bandits were not fair to me when they killed my husband. They took away the one person that meant a lot to me,” she bemoaned.

    In the Kuta IDP camp, Aisha Alhaji Sale from the Madalla community said that despite the magical powers her husband possessed, the bandits ensured that they saw to his end when he was attacked.

    “It was a Wednesday morning that the bandits killed my husband. He went to the farm to do some weeding and when he was returning, he met the bandits on the road and ran to escape from them but they pursued him, they were shooting him but the gun did not penetrate his body.

    “When they caught up with him, they tied him and used stones to stone him, they damaged his face and his organs but even with that, he didn’t die, then they got a battery, mixed it with acid water and forced him to swallow it. That was how he died.”

    She said that life has not been easy for her since her husband died as he was the sole breadwinner of the family adding that trying to get food for her five children and herself have not been an easy task.

    “With the five children, food is difficult. Every day after market days, we go to the market to gather the grains that fall on the ground and sieve to get the ones we would be able to eat. The elderly children usually go to the market to carry loads for people who come to buy things in the market. This is not what they were used to before, so it has not been easy for me and my children.”

    All we need is security to go back Home

    The widows who spoke to The Nation said that staying in the IDP camps is suffocating to them and they would want nothing else than to return to their communities.

    The women claimed that they are being caged and not being free in the camp adding that the normal way of life they know have been disrupted and they wish to return to the way they lived before they came to the camps.

    Laraba Yohanna, who seems to be the youngest widow in the Gwada IDP camp, appealed for assistance from the government, individuals and organizations saying, “we need help in several ways. We are not happy here, in one room you will see about 20 people. We are not happy. Our children do not go to school. We want God and the government to help us.

    “We will be happier to go to our communities than being here because here, we are being caged, it is like we are under another captivity but if security is guaranteed and they can return to their community, we would appreciate it more.”

    Yohanna who expressed her desire to remarry said that that can only happen if she returns to her community as she would not be able to meet eligible men if she remains in the IDP camp.

    Lami Audu, another widow said that the government in their little way has been assisting them in bringing foodstuff quarterly but added that the foodstuff does not last them for two weeks, so they mostly have to depend on the petty work they do to help them get by. According to her, since they are predominantly farmers, if the government can resettle them and give them land to farm, it would be better than staying in the IDP camp doing nothing but begging for money and food every time.

    “We would be glad if the government can provide some skills acquisition programmes for us so that we will have something to fall back on. Government should assist often in the issue of foodstuffs and financially also, to enable us to buy some essentials.

    We are trying our best to help the widows – Leader of IDP Camp

    The Leader of the Gwada IDP camp, Mai-angwan Lado said that they do their best to ensure that the women do not feel the absence of their husbands very much.

    He said that one of his duties is to keep them from being sexually molested or harassed in any way adding that when foodstuff is donated to the camp, he ensures that the widows are usually the first to be given the materials or foodstuff.

    Lado listed the numerous needs of the people in the camp saying that they need a lot of financial assistance from the government and the public.

    “We need assistance from the public, financial assistance. This is because even when people bring foodstuff, we need money for soap and other essentials and even ingredients to use in cooking the food. So financial assistance is very much needed from the public and government.

    Niger IDP camp
    •Some of the affected women

    “Regarding the educational aspect, most of these women, when they look at other children in uniform, entering classes,  they begin to shed tears because their children do not have that opportunity to go to school again, they feel pain because their children are not in school.

    “If only the government can settle these crises and we can go back to our community, we would be glad. It is a necessity that prompted us to stay here and not the need. We would want to return to our community if the government can guarantee their safety.

    “Government has tried to help us and we are also helping ourselves. We want the government to help these widows especially in skills acquisition because it will be a great relief to us,” he stated.

    At the Kuta IDP camp, the two women leaders told The Nation that they try their best to ensure that the widows are not marginalized when donations come, adding that they make sure that they get their share equally like every other person in the camp.

    One of the Women Leaders, Hauwa Zakari said that the needs of the women are numerous as they always bombard them with questions as to when they would leave the camp and when the next government intervention would come.

    “The needs of the women are numerous. If they will have a peaceful place to settle down or provide security for them to return to their lands, they would prefer it more. Here, they are caged but they are not free. They are expecting the government’s assistance even though the government is doing well.”

    How bandits and terrorists have taken over Shiroro LGA

    Over 500 communities in the eight wards that make up Shiroro Local Government Area have been overtaken by Boko Haram and bandits, the Chairman of Shiroro Local Government Area, Comrade Suleiman Dauda Chukumba has disclosed.

    According to him, Boko Haram elements have overtaken the local government area and are trying to equip the people to fight against the government pointing that there is no day without any attack in the local government area.

    “As the Chairman of Shiroro LG Area of Niger State, I can tell you that Shiroro is not only dealing with the issue of banditry, Shiroro has a lot of Boko Haram, I have proof of this as the Chairman.

    “They have told the people that they do not want primary or secondary school in the communities and that they only want to see Islamic schools. They have been trying to incorporate and recruit the residents of the communities to become their members telling them that they will give them arms and assist them in fighting the government.

    “The entire wards are affected by banditry and Boko Haram insurgents. 500 communities in the eight wards are affected. The wards include Manta, Gurmana, Bassa-Kokki, Allawa, Kurebe, Kushaka, Kwati, Chukumba and Galadima Kogo.”

    The Council Chairman appealed to the federal government to bring in more security personnel to help them disband and dislodge the Boko Haram who had already made Shiroro local government area their home.

  • Fresh facts in mystery death of OAU MBA student at Ile-Ife hotel

    Fresh facts in mystery death of OAU MBA student at Ile-Ife hotel

    • Blood stains found on victim’s body

    • He died naturally, says hotel owner’s lawyer

    • Victim’s family’s lawyer: Police must conduct professional investigation

    • Adedoyin: My hands are clean

    As emotions  keep rising over the death of Timothy Oluwadare Adegoke  at Hilton Hotel and Resort, Ile-Ife, penultimate  weekend, The Nation has seen a picture of the deceased covered with what looks like bruises and blood stains.

    The picture, which is too gory to be published, was taken where the body was allegedly dumped.

    The blood stains are mainly on his right elbow, upper part of his left thigh and vest.

    His two legs were spread apart. There was a deep grey sack around his head.

    He wore a round neck white singlet and a navy blue pair of boxers.

    However, the police insist that the body is intact while some of the suspects have reportedly told the police that the victim died in his sleep naturally.

    The hotel has since been shut down but sources close to the management claimed yesterday that “the initial denial of the hotel management as to whether Adegoke lodged with them was because there was no record of any payment by him in the Hotel’s account, but it was later that it was detected that he made payment into the personal account of the receptionist which normally is wrong.”

    Thirty-seven year-old Adegoke was  a Master’s degree student of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife.

    He had travelled from his base in Abuja to Ile-Ife on Friday ,November 5 to write his last examination, without the least suspicion that death was lurking in the corner.

    The late Director of Finance  at Xiamien Stone Limited, Abuja, according to investigation, flew from Abuja to Akure in Ondo State. His plane landed in the Ondo State capital at 3pm.

    He then proceeded to Ile-Ife by road, hitting town at about 4.45pm.

    He chose to lodge at Hilton Hotel and Resort  located on the  Ife-Ibadan expressway opposite Ife Central Local Government Area secretariat ,booking for  a deluxe suite at N18500 per night for two nights.

    For payment, he was said to have transferred N37000 to the personal account of the hotel’s receptionist, identified as Adesola.

    Adegoke, a family source said, notified  his wife  that he checked into  his hotel room but did not disclose the name. He  also made another bank transfer to her.

    “He told his wife that he wanted  to take a nap before reading for his exam,” the source said,adding: “the wife decided not to disturb him because she believed he was  either sleeping or reading, so she suspended calling him  till Saturday morning.”

    Continuing, the source said:” The wife called the following morning to check on Adegoke but his phone rang out of time.

    “She thought her husband already  had left for the examination hall so she suspended the calls till afternoon when she tried the number again. However, she began to feel  that it was unusual of him  not to call her before going for examination.

    “She  was very worried and she called me and one other cousin of her husband living in Ondo State on Saturday afternoon to inform us that she was unable to speak with her husband.

    “This  prompted me to contact a close friend’s wife who was in Ile-Ife to help me go to the examination hall on Sunday. She was in the examination centre at OAU Center for Distance Learning, Moro,  with the first cousin of Adegoke to check if he was at the exam hall around 10 am.”

    “The coordinator of the exam hall checked the attendance sheet and they discovered that he was not present at the exam hall on Saturday and Sunday. He advised that we should check all the hotels in Moro which we did.We could not find him.

    “The Dean of Adegoke’s faculty informed the chairman of the hoteliers association in Ife if any of their members knew the whereabouts of our brother but the chairman of the association gave us a feedback none of their members had the record of Adegoke.

    “This prompted us to report the matter at Edunabon police station on Sunday, 7th November 2021 of the mysterious disappearance of our brother. We went together with the authority of OAU to report the matter and the police told us that they would  transfer the case to Police Headquarters, Osogbo on Monday.

    “The wife called the personal assistant of her husband if he had any information on how they could  locate his husband but  the PA said he called the number of his boss and a strange person picked it on Sunday night informing him that he found the phone in Ejigbo.

    “I called the number immediately, the person picked and told  me ‘hello’ only to  terminate the call  abruptly  and switched  off.

    “We went to the Police Command on Monday to write a statement. They asked us for the name of the hotel that he had lodged  previously  but we told the police that we did not know. We also inquired from his wife, and she said she didn’t know.

    “Adegoke’s phone was tracked by the police and it was revealed that it was in Ejigbo, Osun State. They also asked if we had his email address and his password for tracking. We provided the email address but we didn’t know the  password.

    Read Also: Chef’s death: Agbakoba retracts claim against Premier Hospital

    “On Tuesday, 9th November 2021, the wife searched the house and found the  receipt of Hilton Hotel, Ile-Ife of a previous lodging  in one of the pockets of her husband. She snapped and sent it to the police. This made the police and the elder brother of Adegoke visit the hotel but the staff denied that he lodged in the hotel that weekend.

    “The elder brother was emotional at a point, he called me on phone saying, ‘I am standing in front of the hotel owner now and they are denying that my brother  lodged here’. They left the place and did not make any arrest since we didn’t have concrete evidence that he slept in that hotel.”

    The family source said a clue appeared on  Thursday, November 11 after the police demanded that “we should get Adegoke’s  bank statement.”

    “We made it available to them. The statement of the bank indicated that he made a transaction at 5 PM on the Friday he arrived  the hotel. He sent money to two persons: his wife and one Adedeji Adesola Tobilola. He sent N37,000 to that Adesola. They tracked the phone number of that account holder (Adesola) to Hilton Hotel.

    “We went to the hotel and the hotel paraded all the staff before the police. They asked who bears Adedeji Adesola Tobiloba and a female receptionist signified by raising her finger.

    “She said  Adegoke came to the hotel on Friday to lodge but he only transferred N37,000 to her account and left hurriedly without returning to the hotel. She said she never reported the matter to the hotel management but rather she shared the money with the manager of the company.He (manager) denied the allegation..

    “When she got to the station, she confessed that he (Adegoke) lodged in room 305. Police did not tell us anything before they arrested five people including an alfa who claimed he travelled to Ejigbo.

    “On Monday, 15th, 2021, one of the hotel staff led the police and  four family members to where Adegoke was buried in Ile-Ife. When  the police exhumed the body, we discovered that they packed his corpse inside a carton wrapped with a duvet with the name of the hotel. The neck of Adegoke was slit.

    “The police proceeded to  arrest   the chairman of the hotel, Dr. Rahmon Adedoyin without disclosing the reason for doing so to us.”

    Adedoyin and other suspects are still being interrogated by the police.

    Our own story, Adedoyin’s lawyer

    Contacted yesterday, Adedoyin’s lawyer of 15 years ,Barrister Williams Abiodun, said there is nothing in the account record of the hotel showing that Adegoke paid  to lodge there.

    He said the police first arrested one Adesola, the hotel’s receptionist ,and following her statement, the police “notified me that they needed  to question other staff and I took five of them to the police but they were detained.

    “When they interrogated Adesola, she disclosed that the man (Adegoke) transferred the money into her personal account and (the money) was stolen without recoding it in the hotel’s account. “She shared the money with another staff. That was why the hotel initially denied that Adegoke lodged in the hotel.

    “Last week Saturday, the Investigating Police Officer (IPO) told me that all the arrested staff had confessed that Adegoke actually slept in the hotel but died in his sleep naturally.

    “The staff  had shared the money that was paid by the guest and did not input it in the record. “They knew there was a problem, they took the body in the dead of the night and dumped it somewhere and returned to the hotel as if nothing happened.

    “Chief  (Adedoyin) questioned them repeatedly but they all denied it until police forced them to talk.

    “They did not bury the body, they took the police to where the body was dumped. Where they dumped the body was on farmland on the  Ife/Osogbo road. The farmers hinted the police.

    “Only two staff were involved in dumping the corpse of Adegoke: the receptionist and one Kosim who is the plumber of the hotel. Kosim is this Tabligh Muslim, not a spiritualist.”

    He said the body of the victim was recovered in the presence of the Osun Police Commissioner, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) and some other people.

    He added: “Adegoke’s body was intact when it was recovered. He died a natural death because he was resting his head on his palm. He spread his legs tiredly. There was no single mark of violence on his body. The only offence these people committed  was wrongful interference and dumping of the dead body.”

    He denied suggestions in some quarters that Adedoyin attempted to bribe the family of the deceased.

    “Adedoyin never sent me to any of the family members of the deceased to bribe them,” Abiodun said.

    “I have never seen any member of the  victim’s family. Chief was not  around when the incident happened. I don’t know when his corpse was discovered in the hotel room, but  it seems he died on Friday night or Saturday.

    “The IPO told me that the guy was feeling sick on the 5th of November, that was the reason why the wife worried and called her husband on 6th repeatedly without anybody picking. The remains were probably discovered on Sunday by one  of the workers.”

    He added that those who were arrested mentioned  of the name Chief Adedoyin as the owner of the hotel and he was invited and has been detained since Monday.

    “I went with Chief Adedoyin on Monday to the Police Command, Osogbo where he gave his statement. He voluntarily submitted himself. He was never in any way indicted by the six arrested suspects.”

    He said  the hotel manager, Aderogba Adeniyi was arrested alongside other suspects.

    He also denied that the son of the hotel owner was arrested .

    He asked the police to “do a discrete job and anybody found wanting should be probably prosecuted, no matter how highly placed the person is.”

    He said: “ We intentionally don’t want to free the suspects legally from police detention because we want the police to conduct their investigation very well without interference and let the whole world know that Adegoke  died a natural death. The staff only interfered with the corpse.”

    The hotel is currently under lock and key while investigation into the circumstances surrounding Adegoke’s death continues.

    Another source close to Adedoyin  believe there is a deliberate attempt to rubbish him.

    The source denied suggestions that Adegoke was killed for rituals and said “the initial denial of the hotel management as to whether Adegoke lodged with them was because there was no record of any payment by him in the Hotel’s account, but it was later that it was detected that he made payment into the personal account of the receptionist which normally is wrong.”

    The source added: “the late Adegoke left the hotel like many other customers after finding out that neither light nor water was available, and the CCTV cameras were out of order as a result of renovation work being carried out at the hotel.

    “The hotel has operated for less than two  years and had never recorded any death as the public was led to believe by the deceased brother

    “The lady receptionist who was recently employed by the hotel is on a salary of twenty-five thousand naira (N25,000) and not two hundred thousand naira (N200,000) as being spread in some media.

    “The person called Alfa which could be misinterpreted as an Islamic cleric and possibly a spiritualist or ritualist is actually a plumber and maintenance manager in the hotel and is neither a cleric nor a ritualist.

    “ Dr. Adedoyin is not personally involved in the day-to-day running of the hotel as he has other more important businesses which include five tertiary institutions within and outside Nigeria, security outfit, publishing and hospitality business.”

    Adedoyin: My hands are clean

    The hotel owner,Dr.Rahman Adedoyin,in an audio message from detention yesterday said his hands are clean in the death of Adegoke.

    Speaking in Yoruba,65 year old  Adedoyin said he has been wealthy  since he was 26  years after starting as a home lesson teacher.

    He said he never left Ife before God “blessed me”.

    He said he has never been involved in money rituals and pleaded with the public to conduct their investigation into the matter.

    He said he did not know about the death of Adegoke in his hotel until the police  started searching for him.

    Police source: Why  Adegoke paid into hotel staff’s account

    A highly placed police source told The Nation that the hotel receptionist had told Adegoke that the facility had run out of diesel to power its generator.

    “She asked  Adegoke to pay into her personal account so that she could  use part of the money to procure fuel which he (Adegoke) agreed to,”  the source said.

    His killers must be made to feel our  pains – Adegokes

    The deceased turned  37 only last August,according to his elder brother, Olugbade Adegoke.

    “He was the breadwinner of the whole family. He was more educated than all of us in the family,” he said in an emotion –laden vice.

    “He was the third born of our parents.

    “He had been doing the Master’s programme when he was in Ondo before he was transferred to Abuja. He left Ondo around May 2021 for  Abuja and moved his family with him in September 2021.

    “When we visited the   hotel, we discovered that there were bloodstains in the room where he slept and they had already changed the mattress and curtains of the room because it was different from all others of its category. I took the pictures.

    “We demand   that the police should press murder charges those  involved in the death of my younger brother.

    “The deceased had three children. The firstborn are  seven-year-old twins and another two-year-old baby. I want the perpetrators to feel our pains.

    “My brother had the prospect of becoming the managing director  of the company he was working for. He had two mobile policemen  securing him and an official car in Abuja but because he was coming down to Ile-Ife for an exam he felt it was needless to travel with them. He was killed during his last exam in the school.”

    Family to Police: All culprits must be brought to book

    Counsel to the bereaved family,Kayode Ajulo,in a statement  yesterday commended the police  for a job well done so far,but said all the culprits in the matter must be brought to book in the overriding interest of justice.

    “It is worrisome and sad that Mr. Timothy Oludare can be cut down in his prime for motives best known to his killers which of course, must be extracted and investigated by the Police without delay. It portends serious danger that a place meant to serve the temporary accommodation needs of Nigerians and non-Nigerians alike could in actual fact be a place where cold-blooded murders are orchestrated and carried out in the most desperate and daring manner. Again, we note the temerity and the audacity in which the murder of the late Timothy Oludare was carried out as contained in the preliminary findings made by the Osun State Police Command. According to the findings, our Client’s son was strangled to death in his hotel room, his body was subsequently mutilated and wrapped in a blood-soaked blanket/bedsheet belonging to the hotel and finally buried in a shallow grave near the hotel.

    “The law is clear that an offender(s) who causes the death of a person is guilty of murder under 316 of the Criminal Code Laws Cap 34, Laws of Osun State and same is punishable by death under Section 319 of the same law and it is our legally considered view that the confessional statements as obtained from some of the suspects are cogent enough to establish the varying degrees of guilt of all the suspects.

    “As things stand, the hotel and its vicinity are a crime scene and should be treated as such, nothing must be on the way of a thorough and wider investigation of this highly reprehensible murder because nobody irrespective of their status or influence is bigger than the extant laws of the land.

    “We therefore urge utmost professionalism by the Police in this matter; no stone must be left unturned to get to the root of this matter. On our part, we are ready to partner with the Police to ensure that justice is not only done but seen to be done. While we trust that this matter will reach its expected legal conclusion, we want to reiterate that we will not hesitate for a second to do everything within legally permissible limits to fight anyone who attempts to frustrate the expected end of justice.

    “As it is historically believed that Ile-Ife is the cradle of the human race, it is important that the ancient city and by extension, other parts of the nation must not be allowed to become safe havens for murderers and other criminals alike. It shreds our collective humanity into pieces when the blood of any innocent Nigerian can be spilled without consequences.”

    His exhumed body is intact — Police

    However, the Police  Public Relations Officer of the Osun State Police Command, SP Yemisi Opalola said body of the victim   which was  exhumed by the police in the presence of the family members remains intact.

    “No part of the body was missing when it was exhumed,” Opalola said.

    He added: “investigation by the police indicates that Adegoke slept inside Hilton Hotel and Resort, Ile-Ife, and he was traced to the hotel.

    “In the course of the investigation, we arrested six workers connected to the issue. Further investigation led to the arrest of the owner of the Hotel. Dr Rahman Adedoyin. He is still in our custody. The corpse has been exhumed and deposited at Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital morgue.

    “The relations were present when the corpse was exhumed. A  pathologist and the Commissioner of Police were also present . No part of the body was missing when it was exhumed. I plead with Nigerians not to stir  up controversy. Allow the police to conduct a diligent investigation to unravel the mystery behind the death of Adegoke.”

  • How sex-enhancing fruit turned Gombe communities into tourist attraction

    How sex-enhancing fruit turned Gombe communities into tourist attraction

    The saying is common in Gombe State, the entire Northeast up to neighboring countries of Chad, Niger Republic and Cameroon: marry a Tula woman and you will never taste of another woman. While that might sound as a myth, recent developments in scientific research into herbal medicine, particularly in the past one decade, seem to confirm the popular saying as the development has been traced to a fruit called gorontula.

    Goro is the Hausa word for kolanut, the caffeine fruit commonly consumed in the tropical part of Nigeria. Gorontula therefore literally translates to Tula’s kookaburra, meaning that unlike the common kolanut, gorontula is only found in Tula communities in Kaltungo Local Government Area of Gombe State and Michika in Adamawa State, both on the mountainous belt stretching across the two states.

    In English language, gorontula is known variously as tree hibiscus, snot apple or African chewing gum because it is sweet and chewy with lots of fibre. Botanically, it is known as azanza garckeana or azanza for short.

    There are four Tula communities, namely Wange Tula, Yiri Tula, Baule Tula and Kaltin Tula, all located in the mountainous and rocky parts of the state. But for reasons that probably border on climate or weather of the mountain, gorontula can only be found in Tula and Michika and nowhere else around the world, hence the reason it is called gorontula; a kind of kolanut peculiar to the Tula tribe in Gombe State.

    The Tula communities were predominantly agrarian until recently when Gorontula began to attract the attention of fun seeking men and women who are rushing to the affected communities to obtain the fruits in order to satisfy their sexual fantasies.

    “Men who want to satisfy their women come from as far as Chad, Niger and Cameroon to buy gorontula because it makes sex sweet for both women and men. It also works for fertility, diabetes and high blood pressure,” said Heman Ephraim, the Seriki Gorontula.

    Tula Entrance

    “I have a history of high blood pressure, and each time I notice the sign, I just take the Gorontula and I will sleep and become normal,” he added.

    Until 10 to 12 years ago, gorontula was just a fruit the Tulas took to the farm to assuage hunger and derive energy while working on their farms.

    “We can work long hours on the farm taking only water and gorontula without feeling hungry,” said Salisu Malare, a gorontula produce trader in Tula.

    According to him, the wide acclaim about the sexual ability of Tula women and men did not originate from Tula. “It was the testimony of men who married our women to confirm that they were brought up well,” he said, laughing.

    Indeed, talks about sex usually elicits excitement from both sexes around Tula communities. Serah Jodah, for instance, said she had been eating gorontula from childhood and could not imagine that any other women could beat Tula women on bed. She said: “It is very true that gorontula makes our women sexually active and also repairs and cleanses the reproductive organs. We have been using it for long without even knowing the medicinal values of the fruit.”

    On her part, Esther Umar said: “We took it for granted because we have always seen the gorontula as our own and it has become part of our daily food.

    “Some women also use gorontula to cure infection, boost their fertility and increase libido.

    “If a woman finds it difficult to conceive, we often take gorontula to enhance our fertility. Even those who experience dryness during intercourse use gorontula. And it is not only for women; both sexes use it. Men, in particular, come from different places to get it.”

    gorontula is an essential ingredient of Kayamata, a popular sex enhancing herb among Hausa people.

    “Its honey, seeds and leaves are extracted and used for various medicinal purposes. It is the mainstay of the economy of Tula communities.

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    “This fruit has taken me todifferent parts of the country and beyond. I receive calls from as far Niger, Chad, Cameroon and even Europe by people demanding for it,” said Malare.

    The Secretary to Mai Tula, Malam Yakulma Yaro, said the Mai of Tula, Alhaji Abubakar Buba Atare, often takes the fruits with him when travelling out of the country to create awareness for it.

    Yaro said: “He is not just our traditional ruler and father but also our ambassador plenipotentiary.

    “As the chancellor of a university in the Republic of Benin and a widely travel royal father, he preaches the gospel of gorontula wherever he goes, and that has helped to increase awareness about gorontula.

    “It is also the reason why many researchers are working and discovering more about its medicinal values.

    “Gorontula is our own, and because of that, we take it along with us wherever we go.”

    Asked whether claims on the ability of the fruits to increase sex potency are true, Yaro laughed and said the judgment is better passedby those who have eaten or used it for that purpose.

    According to him, if the experience of those that are using it was contrary to their expectations, there would not be continued influx of visitors to Tula for gorontula every year.

    Beaming with smiles as he answered the reporter’s question to him, Yaro said: “My friend, don’t leave Tula today without a load of gorontula in your pocket, because I know you will come back for it, and by then, the question you asked me now would have been properly answered by your experience.”

    At a military checkpoint on the road from Tula to Kaltungo, a group of women hawking Gorontula rushed towards motorists who were stopped by soldiers, shouting Gorontula.

    The reporter asked what it is used for and one of them responded “abuna ne”, meaning it is for sex.

    Mai Tula Alhaji Abubakar Buba Atare
    •Mai Tula Alhaji Abubakar Buba Atare
    Serah Jodah
    •Serah Jodah
    Water Umar
    •Water Umar
    Seriki Gorontula
    •Seriki Gorontula, Heman Ephraim
    Salisu Malare
    •Gorontula produce trader, Salisu Malare

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    As the soldiers passed the vehicles the gorontula hawkers continued to chase the motorists until some of them parked to buy from them.

    Among the travellers that patronised them was Yahaya who had come in from Adamawa State.

    Yahaya said he always bought the gorontula each time he passed the place to give to his wife. Asked why, he looked into the reporter’s face and said, “You know.”

    Mr. Patrick Umeh, a Gombe based herbalist who said he had used gorontula for more than 10 years, said it is capable of increase libido, lubricate the vagina, boost fertility and get rid of vagina odour.

    Patrick Umeh
    •Gorontula produce trader, Salisu Malare •Patrick Umeh, herbalist
    using Gorontula

    He added: “With all these medicinal value of gorontula, you would understand why some men may go beyond looking for gorontula to look for Tula women, because the gorontula is traditional to them.

    “I have heard of that popular saying myself, but I did not marry a Tula woman because the same work that gorontula does in a Tula woman can also be done in your own woman if you get gorontula for her.”

    Although gorontula is out of season for now, it has not reduced the demand for it by Nigerians who are trooping to Tula for the African chewing gum.

    Salisu Malare said in the pick of the season, a mudu of gorontula can sell for between N6,000 to N7,000 while a bag sells for between N60,000 and N70,000.

    “You would not find many visitors now because the harvest season for gorontula is between December and January. By that time, the price will come down and many people will rush here to buy at cheaper price,” he said.

  • How we kidnapped Kaduna commissioner’s grandchildren, killed pregnant woman, others – Suspects

    How we kidnapped Kaduna commissioner’s grandchildren, killed pregnant woman, others – Suspects

    Two kidnap suspects, Umar Adamu a.k.a. Meagwua (21) and Idris Mustapha (35) arrested by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have revealed how their eight-man gang, led by one Isah Ibrahim (Danwasa), kidnapped three grandchildren of a Commissioner in Kaduna State, killed a pregnant pharmacist, Hanatu Rufai, and a professor’s son in different operations in the Northwest region of the country.

    The suspects were alleged to be among those who attacked the National Leprosy and Tuberculosis Training Centre, Zaria, where about eight persons were kidnapped.

    According to the police, the gang stormed the centre with two General Purpose Machine Guns (GPMG) and five AK47 rifles which they used to wreak havoc before proceeding to a house behind Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), where they kidnapped the pregnant pharmacist and killed her for not walking fast.

    The Nation gathered that the gang was responsible for the kidnap of an Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi professor, Alliu Mohammed, and the murder of his son during the operation.

    A gang member identified as Aminu was said to have fired the shot that killed Prof. Mohammed’s son while others whisked the man into the bush and held him until N10 million ransom was paid.

    It was learnt that they also kidnapped and murdered a vigilante member known as Japenti at Wusafa area, attacked the owner of Najiwa Filling Station and whisked away his wife and child until N18 million ransom was paid.

    Giving details of some of the gang’s operations, Adamu, who claimed to be a herdsman, said Isah (at large) usually brought the guns they used for operations.

    He denied being among those who went to the commissioner’s house to kidnap his grandchildren but admitted taking part in other operations.

    According to him, the pregnant pharmacist was killed for being stubborn and refusing to walk fast, adding that Isah usually gave him and others resident in the city N2,000 for transportation after each operation, and would contact them to come to the bush for their shares once ransom was paid.

    He said: “I joined the gang last year. I was rearing cow. That was where I met Isah. He is also a cattle rearer. Isah brings guns to us. After the operation, they would give me and others N2,000 and tell us to go that they would call us when they collected the ransom.

    “I don’t stay in the camp. I only go for operation with them. I refused to go to the bush because my father said he wanted to marry a wife for me and that I should not go to the bush.

    “I did not participate in the kidnap of the commissioner’s grandchildren but I know they were three. It was Idris Mustapha that provided information about that particular operation.

    “My job was to lead the gang out of the community after each kidnap operation, because I know the terrain. I never handled gun. I just showed them where to follow and how to locate where they parked their motorcycles.

    Read Also: Two suspects held for supplying fuel to bandits

    “They usually parked their motorcycles at a distance and walked into the village. Sometimes they stormed the villages around 9 pm or 10:30 pm, depending on the terrain. So, when they pick victims, I show them the routes to follow to locate their motorcycles without being caught,” said Adamu.

    Mustapha, a neighbour to the commissioner, claimed he was threatened by Isah to provide information on wealthy individuals and cattle owners or risk being killed.

    He said he knew the gang through a friend of his called Dambaba, whose cousin, Isah, was the leader.

    According to Mustapha, Dambaba sent his number to Isah, who called and requested that he should buy drugs for his cows and bring them to the bush.

    “He sent N20,000 first through one Bagobili that I should buy the drugs and bring them to the camp. But I said I would not do it. Isah threatened that he would come to town in the night, pack all our cows and kill me. I was scared, so I agreed.

    “Bagobiri returned the money to me and I bought the drugs and gave him to take to Isah. He sent money two other times. The second time, it was N30,000 and the third was N25,000. He told me to buy cattle drugs and give to Bagobiri.

    “The last one I bought, Isah said I should come to the camp to deliver the drugs myself. When I got there, I saw members of the gang all armed with AK47 rifles. They kept me there and Isah threatened me, saying that he asked me to do a job for him and I didn’t.

    “He repeated that he had the right to come to town and kill me and make away with all our cows. He said if I didn’t want that to happen, I should cooperate with him. He gave me food and took me to the main road to return home.

    “He told me to feed him with information about people who have money or cows in Zaria city. We were communicating with the phone. He sent one Idi and another person to me. They came and I pointed the commissioner’s house to them.

    “The father of those children and I are close. The same Idi came in motorcycles to survey the place and went back. After some time, they came back to operate at night.

    “The Commissioner was not at home; he was in Kaduna. They didn’t kill anybody. I didn’t go to the house after the kidnap, but their father came to my house.

    “I greeted him but refused to go to their house. I refused to go because of the presence of security agents. I regret my action.

    “I was given N10,000 for the Commissioner’s grandchildren kidnap.”

  • ‘I plotted my cousin’s kidnap, murder to avoid repaying N1.4m I owed her’

    ‘I plotted my cousin’s kidnap, murder to avoid repaying N1.4m I owed her’

    The Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have arrested a 36-year-old man, Abubakar Halilu, for plotting the kidnap and murder of his cousin.

    The suspect was arrested after detectives investigating the victim’s kidnap found her car keys in his custody.

    It was gathered that Halilu lured his cousin, a businesswoman, to kidnappers’ den at Galadimawa area of Kaduna State where she would be killed and he would not repay the sum of N1.4 million he owed her.

    The suspect was said to have driven the victim’s car on the day they were both supposedly kidnapped and held hostage in different parts of the bush only for her car keys, other belongings in the vehicle to resurface in his custody.

    He allegedly made arrangements with the criminals to collect N100 million as ransom from the woman’s family and kill her afterwards, but luck ran out of on him as the victim escaped from the camp where she was held when her captors went out for an operation.

    Confessing to the crime, Halilu said the woman bought some Keke Marwa (tricycles) amounting to N3.9 million and gave them to him on hire purchase.

    He said he successfully paid N2.5 million and was owing her a balance of N1.4 million which he did not want to pay, adding that the day she was kidnapped, he told her to escort him to recover money from a debtor.

    He said: “I was supposed to have finished payment in December 2020. The total amount was N3.9 million. I have paid her N2.5 million, remaining a balance of N1.4 million.

    “When she called to ask for the balance, I told her I was going to collect my money from someone. After discussing with the person I claimed owed me money, I lured her to accompany me to collect the money from the person but took her to bandits in Galadimawa.

    “Before I got there, I had discussed with the kidnappers. I knew them at the farm I was going to in Kubu area. I knew they were kidnappers. They were about five in number.

    “In the camp, they have about 50 different gangs. They took me to their house. They have houses in the bush. They have huts where they keep kidnapped victims.

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    “So, as we arrived the place, they kidnapped both of us and took us into the bush and separated us. My plan was for them to kill her.

    “They were supposed to collect N100 million ransom and give me my share before they would kill her. I spent five days with them.

    “While at the camp, somebody came to take me away.  My cousin was able to escape from the initial gang but fell into another kidnap gang’s hands. I don’t know the people in hose hands she fell because I was taken to another camp by the gang that abducted me.

    “I was the one that drove her in her car to the place I told her I was going to collect money. After we were kidnapped, the kidnappers took the car away to a junction.

    “I told them they should take the car to the road so that people will see it and it would look as if we were indeed kidnapped, but they said people would see it where I parked it.”

    Halilu said his co-conspirators however held him hostage and demanded that his family should bring money for his release. He said he didn’t know the amount they negotiated with his family but managed to escape the day the ransom was to be paid.

    “I managed to escape from their camp on the day payment was supposed to be made. As I was escaping, I begged a farmer I met on the road to give me his phone to contact my people. I told the stranger that I was kidnapped.

    “I told my people on the phone not to bother to pay money to anybody. I told my people that I escaped when the kidnappers went out. I told them to come and meet me at Iredachi Junction. From there, one of my brothers that came to pick me handed me over to IRT office.”

    According to the police, the suspect apparently thought his plans had succeeded and decided to collect everything that was inside the woman’s car, adding that he confessed to the crime during interrogation.

  • How we kidnapped priests, killed another victim, by suspects

    How we kidnapped priests, killed another victim, by suspects

    Two suspected members of a notorious kidnap gang in Kaduna arrested by the Police Intelligence Response Team (IRT) have given chilling details on their operations.

    The suspects, Salisu Abdullahi, 28, and Babangida Usman who confessed to have participated in about six kidnapping operations, including that of a priest, Fr. Tony Bawa, said they also killed one of their victims, Chinedu, after collecting N500,000 ransom because he fought with one of them.

    The suspects, who were paraded on Tuesday by police spokesman, Frank Mba, a Commissioner of Police (CP), at the IRT’s office in Abuja, admitted belonging to a daredevil gang that terrorised Kushemakaranta, Rafinkinba, Kuditlri, Kwei, along Nasarawa Express Road and Kurumikari areas of Kaduna State.

    Abdullahi, who said he joined the gang voluntarily about a year ago, claimed he was a farmer and cattle rustler before he took to kidnapping.

    A married man with three children, Abdullahi said he opted for kidnapping because it brought in more money, which he needed to womanise and buy alcoholic beverages.

    Giving details of the gang’s operations he partook in, Abdullahi said their leader usually gave them information on who to go after, and gave orders on whom to kill or spare after ransom.

    He said: “Since I joined the gang, we have kidnapped two reverend fathers. The first reverend father we kidnapped, we went to his house at Kushemakaranta around 3am. We carried three guns and broke into his house. When we knocked on the door, he opened.

    “He was alone in the house and didn’t struggle with us. We took him to the bush and only released him after we collected one million naira ransom.

    “The second reverend father (Tony Bawa) was also taken from his house and we kept him in the bush for two weeks until his people paid N8 million ransom.

    “It is not up to a year I joined the gang. I was not forced into kidnapping, I joined by myself. I was into farming and cattle rustling before I joined kidnap gang.

    “I am married with three children. I have no father or mother.

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    “I have participated in six operations and I made N800,000 from them.

    I used the money to drink and carry women. Nobody knows I am a kidnapper in the community.

    “My role in the gang is a watchman. I watch over kidnapped victims in the bush until ransom is paid for their release.

    “Our leader surveys the area for prominent persons. He also gathers intelligence on victims after which he informs us on the victim to kidnap.

    “One of the suspects we kidnapped was killed after N500,000 ransom was paid. He spent three days in our custody and he lived in the same area with our leader. His name is Chinedu, a businessman, and we kidnapped him from his house.

    “He was killed after the ransom because he fought with one of us. Our leader asked us to kill him. He was the first person I joined them to kidnap.

    “The second person was also named Chinedu, a trader. He was riding his motorbike to Kagaruko when our leader called us on the phone to give us a hint on his route.

    “Our leader rode his motorbike behind Chinedu and gave us information on where he was and where we would strike.

    “We abducted and took him to the bush, collected N700,000 from him and he was released.

    “I do not know the name of the third victim, but we collected N700,000 from him as well. He was lured out of the market.

    “He trades in ginger, so we told him we had ginger in the farm for sale and he volunteered to follow us, not knowing it was a trap.

    “On the way to the farm, he was kidnapped and made to pay N700,000 ransom.

    “The priest who paid N1m was the fourth victim, and the one whose people paid N8 million was the fifth. The sixth victim was picked from the farm. We collected N300,000.”

    Usman who said he made N600,000 from being a kidnapper, said his role was to guard victims.

    He said the gang did not kidnap women because they were the ones to go source for the money to pay in order to free their husbands.