I know kidnapping won’t stop like that. But as the government has started crushing their dens, anyone that allows his house to be used for kidnapping activities knows the house will be demolished
THERESA did not imagine what would befall her as she drove her grey coloured Honda CRV around Aladja, Delta State, early this year. In a twinkle of an eye, she was abducted by a gang that swooped on her. And save for the timely interception of a team of anti-crime patrol duty policemen from the Abraka Division, her family and friends would have had to look for ransom to set her free.
Following a radio message from the police control, the police were able to prevent the kidnap. Such was not the case for many kidnap victims in the state.
Had the kidnappers been successful, they would have opened a channel of communication, usually by the mobile telephone, with a victim’s loved one. Bargaining, logistics, grief, pains, fear, and exchange of money would follow.
While kidnapping has become a plague in the country, the situation in Delta State has become very worrisome. In a recent statement by the Delta State Commissioner of Police, 139 armed robbers and kidnappers were arrested between January and April 2013, while 29 were killed in action. And while 36 kidnapped victims were rescued by the Delta State Police Command, a lot more kidnap victims met other fate.
Notoriously known as the state with the highest number of kidnappings, the fear of kidnapping is very rife in Delta State. Company executives, top government officials and all rich men go about with armed security guards. They are prime targets.
“A lot of people are being kidnapped every day,” said George (not real name). “The kidnappers can catch anybody and when they demand for ransom, what goes on is like bargaining. I know someone that when he was kidnapped, the kidnappers asked for five million naira. At the end of the day, when the person’s family couldn’t raise that sum, they collected N200, 000 and freed him.”
And one place fingered as harbouring the majority of the kidnappers is Urhoboland. According to a victim who was kidnapped on the outskirts of Benin City in Edo State, he could hear the people in the village where he was kept conversing in Urhobo. “I heard the elders discuss; I heard children talk as they passed and walked to school. I cannot speak the language, but I recognise, it very well.” she said.
Onoriode Sunday Eromedoghene, the chairman of the Ethiope-East Local Government Area, where Kokori is situated, confirmed this trend. “It is true that the state of kidnapping is alarming,” he said. “But, the traditional rulers are in the best position to talk about it.”
Perhaps, it is to acknowledge the fact that these kidnappers are not ghosts that informed the decision of the administration of Governor Emmanual Uduaghan not to hand over a staff of office to a newly installed monarch in the state till his community is able to hand over Kelvin Oniarah. Oniarah is said to be the suspected kingpin of the kidnappers. Though, they said he rarely comes around the town, he is reputed to possess spiritual powers from a shrine to make him ‘disappear.’ According to a statement from the Delta State Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, Kokori, a town in Ethiope-East Local Government Area, harbours Kelvin Oniarah, the most wanted suspected kidnapper. The fair-skinned 25-year old man is said to head a notorious gang responsible for over 30 kidnapping and robbery operations across the state. So notorious is he that the Delta State Police Command has declared Kelvin, as he is popularly called, wanted. But Kelvin remains at large.
Currently, along many roads in the hinterlands, it is not strange to find security posts manned by fierce-looking army personnel and mobile policemen. Cars are inspected and okada (commercial motorcycles) have been banned from operating in Kokori, Isiokolo, Okpara, Eku and Abraka – towns in the Ethiope-East Local Government Area. The commercial motorcycles had earlier been banned in Asaba, the state capital, and Warri. And in a bid to crush the kidnappers, the Delta State Police Command with the backing of the Delta State government, has been demolishing identified operational bases where kidnappers keep innocent citizens. So far, about seven buildings have been destroyed. Kelvin’s father’s house was among those destroyed.
A house was demolished at Orogun where the Accountant of the Delta State University, Abraka was held; another one at Ozoro where Major Gen. Peter Onode (rtd) was held was demolished; a house at Kokori and another one in Warri, where a female victim was held, were also pulled down.
While a section of people in these communities adores these kingpins and sees them as messiahs because of the cash they dole out regularly, another section dreads them. Either way, members of these communities do not squeal, either from being beneficiaries of the kidnappers’ largesse or from fear. According to a resident of Samagidi, a town close to Kokori, who would not reveal his name, anyone that loves his life dare not report them. “You just look and go on your own,” he said. “They have informants everywhere. Anytime, security vans or strange people enter the community, they have people who inform them. And they are always never caught. But, people around here know them.”
And while for many people, the fear of kidnappers is potent, the Delta State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), ASP Lucky Uyabeme, believes that the tide of kidnapping is on the decrease.
But there is still a disturbing case. That is the matter of Dr. Mercy Mukoubia, a lecturer in the Science Education Department of the Delta State University, Abraka. Kidnapped from her bedroom in Obiaruku in April, she has not been seen since then. An attempt to rescue her after a N1.2 million ransom was dropped at Ozoro was botched. An accomplice was shot and others were arrested. Uyabeme says the case “is something of a mystery.”
And three weeks ago, the wife of the traditional ruler of Ughelli Kingdom, was kidnapped when she went to register for her courses at the Delta State University, Abraka. She was rescued by the police who also demolished the building where she was kept. The Delta State University administration is worried over this trend as lecturers and their relations have become targets.
In May, the Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Abraka branch, Dr. Emmanuel Mordi, complained to the Commissioner of Police, Ikechukwu Aduba, that at least 20 lecturers and their relations had been kidnapped in the last two years.
A retired staff of the Delta State University, Abraka believes that the government’s move to destroy any building used as a kidnappers’ base would serve as deterrence.
He said: “I know kidnapping won’t stop like that. But as the government has started crushing their dens, anyone that allows his house to be used for kidnapping activities knows the house will be demolished.”
As the war goes on, it is no doubt that the state government together with the security personnel are determined to flush out criminals. This move of demolishing kidnappers’ dens has recently been adopted by the Edo State government.
