The Nation Newspaper

Tag: KELVIN

  • KELVIN IS DANCE WITH PETER WINNER

    KELVIN IS DANCE WITH PETER WINNER

    AFTER weeks of keen contest, Kelvin Ayanruoh, a twenty four old indigene of Delta State, has emerged winner of the maiden edition of Dance with Peter reality television show sponsored by Globacom.

    The youngster was declared winner at the grand finale of the show held last Saturday at Bamako Studio, Ojodu, Lagos. He defeated his closest challengers, Mali Hot Boy, and third place winner, Ghanaian Julius Fakta, to win the coveted crown of best dancer in West Africa. Amazing Amy and Da Octopus won the fourth and fifth positions respectively.

    In view of this, Kelvin wins Globacom’s top prize of a Toyota Rav 4 SUV and N3million cash with an opportunity of featuring in P-Square’s next music video.  First runner-up, Mali Hot Boy, goes home with a Honda Civic car and N2million, while Julius Fakta gets a Kia Rio car and N1million cash prize. Both of them will also have a chance to feature in a top Glo Ambssador’s music video.

    With his emergence as the best dancer, Kelvin whose philosophy in life is “respect all and fear none” is crystallising his dream of becoming a world famous international choreographer. His victory is also remarkable, given that he started out as a member of a dance group called Elevators NG. At the audition stage, the judges picked him out for his dexterity to progress to the next stage as a solo performer. He has repaid that faith by winning the competition.

    The other dancers who survived the elimination stages and made it to the grand finale were Amazing Amy, Da Octopus, G-Xtreem and C-Fly. They were voted fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh respectively by followers of the show.

    Glo ambassador and entertainer, Dapo Oyebanjo, popularly known as D’banj, featured as guest judge on the show. He also performed along with Peter Okoye to the delight of the audience.

  • Kelvin again

    Kelvin again

    Two persons were feared dead in troubled Kokori , Ethiope East Local Government Area Delta State yesterday after armed youths , believed to be loyal to the suspected gangster , Kelvin Iburvwe invaded the town.

    The incident sparked a bloody confrontation betweent the gang and troops of the Joint Task Force who were deployed following an SOS from the community.

    Among the victims was a middle aged man identified as Kelvin’s maternal uncle. Kelvin, who is facing trial in Abuja, is the leader of the militant group Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People.

    A reliable community source said the deceased met his death during a visit to Kelvin’s mother’s house .

    The source said, “Kelvin’s boys were on the rampage in Kokori. There was a heavy shooting in Kokori yesterday (Thursday) and today (Friday). There was heavy shooting.

    “Two persons were killed. Kelvin’s uncle who went to visit his (Kelvin’s) mother was among the victims but the man was not a member of the group. He was a quiet man who was at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

    It was further learnt that the Secretary of the town council, identified as Treasure Ogbe was abducted by the hoodlums to their camp on the outskirt of the town.

    It was gathered that he was tortured and ordered to go back and convene a meeting where he would pressurize the elders and chiefs of the community to agitate for Kelvin’s release or face more molestation.

    A source close to the community scribe said he was released shortly after troops moved into Kokori.

    Residents are understood to be worried by the resurgence of Kelvin’s gang.

    The gang is accused of masterminding the recent murder of two lawyers and attack on a police convoy.

    A source said:“We are afraid. The boys are a constant threat, their camp is nearby and the military know it but am surprised they have not moved to clear them.”

  • Kokori’s Kelvin seeks life outside detention

    Kokori’s Kelvin seeks life outside detention

    Kelvin Onairah is not finding life in incarceration funny. Gone are the good things of life. Gone is his freedom. Gone is his reign. In short, the music has stopped and the dance steps have assumed a macabre mien. He hungers for life outside the detention walls.

    Oniarah and his compatriot, Frank Azuekor, who were arrested on September 25 for their involvement in nefarious activities, are asking the Federal High Court, sitting in Abuja to order their release.

    In a suit filed by their lawyer, Samuel Omohwo Esharefasa of Festus Keyamo Chambers,they also plead with the court to declare their arrest and subsequent detention illegal.

    The respondents in the suit are the State Security Service (SSS), SSS Director-General and the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF).

    In an originating motion dated October 17, last year said the government breached their fundamental rights.

    In an affidavit deposed to by a relative of Kelvin, Duke Oniarah Ibruvwe, he said contrary to the claims of the respondents, the applicants were neither kidnappers nor armed robbers. He said they were law-abiding and responsible citizens from Kokori in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State, who were championing the cause of their community which has been neglected by Shell Petroleum Development Company and other multinational oil companies, which operate oil wells and flow stations in the community.

    He added that Oniarah and Azuekor, belong to the Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People (LIMUP), formed to emancipate the Urhoboland from marginalisation and poverty.

    He alleged that they were framed up and arrested in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, where they had gone to honour an invitation by the Delta State government.

    The court is expected to look at the matter later this year.

    While Kelvin is hoping to get the court to set him free, the State Security Services (SSS) is also perfecting plot to ensure he goes down permanently. In November, it withdrew the charge it filed at an Abuja Chief Magistrates’ Court, Wuse, against the kidnap kingpin, and two of his gang members.

    They were arraigned for alleged highly coordinated kidnapping activities in the Southsouth and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

    At the hearing of the matter, counsel to the Federal Government, Cliff Osagie, said further investigation by the SSS had shown that the accused persons were involved in acts of terrorism with elements of kidnapping and murder, which did not fall under the jurisdiction of the Magistrates’ Court.

    Osagie said the SSS had secured an order of the Federal High Court, Abuja to further detain the suspects for another 90 days pending the conclusion of investigation.

    He added that the accused persons would be arraigned before the court as prescribed by law.

    Magistrate Usman Ahmed Shuaibu granted Osagie’s application to withdraw the charge.

    Kelvin and others are to be remain in the custody of the SSS until their arraignment at the Federal High Court.

    The charges against them are as follows: “That between February 2, 2012 and September 24, 2013 at Kokori, Asaba, Warri, Port Harcourt and Benin City, in Delta, Rivers and Edo states respectively and along Benin-Abuja road, Abuja FCT, you Kelvin Eziegbe (Oniarah), Frank Azuekoh and Haruna Momoh conspired with Rufus Ovwigho, Ese Oghenerojakor and others now at large to kidnap for ransom the persons of Mike Ozekhome (SAN), Chudi Nwike (Dr), Hope Eghagha (Prof) and many others.

    “That you did ambush and attack a Federal Prisons vehicle conveying some members of your criminal gang which resulted in the death of some Police and Prisons officers.

    “That you further conspired to unlawfully import prohibited firearms from Libya for the purpose of kidnapping, robbery and related criminal activities and you thereby committed the offence of (1) criminal intimidation punishable under Section 397 penal code, (2) kidnapping punishable under Section 274 penal code, (3) robbery punishable under Section 298 penal code, and (4) criminal conspiracy to commit felony punishable under Section 97 penal code.”

    Since his criminal escapades propelled him into the top list of Niger Deltan most wanted criminal, Kelvin had become a mystery of sort. He is so popularly that he is known simply by his first name. He is not unlike Lawrence Anini, the infamous Nigerian armed robbery kingpin whose fame and notoriety spread through the country in the mid-80s.

    Scores of verified and unverified sorties were attributed to him, so much so that he became known as the cat with nine lives.

    Kelvin’s notoriety as a crime lord was cemented in 2012 when his brazen kidnap operation and deadly high profile armed robbery operation in Warri, Eku, Abraka and other parts of state. He was also fingered as the ring leader of a vast kidnap syndicate which operation spread beyond the state.

    He singlehanded placed his Kokori home town, one of the sub-clans that make up Agbon Kingdom in Ethiope East Local Government Area, on the world map, but for the wrong reason. The town has been tagged the headquarters of kidnappers in the Niger Delta region.

    Reliable police sources said eight of every 10 robbery operations in the Osubi-Eku- Agbor axis of the state were either planned in Kokori or executed by gunmen trained by the young man.

    The reputation of the Urhobo town was not helped by reports that some prominent chiefs were shielding him and his criminal gangs from the law. He was declared wanted by the Delta State Police Command earlier last year. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, said the efforts of the police to arrest him were thwarted by community leaders in the area.

    As bloody as he had been, Kelvin outperformed himself when he led a team to secure the release of his ally and fellow kidnap suspect, who was awaiting trial at the Okere prison in Warri. Rufus, the suspect, and other suspects were being taken by wardens for a court appearance when the accosted them and opened fire on the prison vehicle, killing at least three wardens and two civilians before freeing their man.

    Their getaway was as loud as the operation: they shot their way through the heavy traffic from Okere Road, through the NPA Expressway to Effurun Roundabout, where they left trails of blood, bloodied victims, bullet-riddled cars and thousands of panic-stricken residents in their wake.

    Reliable sources in the kingdom said the pronouncement of Kelvin carried weight.

    Worried by the disgrace his activities had brought to the kingdom, leaders of the area decided to act. In one of their meetings over the sordid state of affairs and the disgrace of being tagged ‘Kidnappers Kingdom’, they met. Some suggested that the criminal should be rounded up and handed to the law. Days after, at least two of those who backed call for Kelvin’s arrest in the meeting were shot dead in broad day light.

    The incident led to concern among well-meaning members of the kingdom that there the criminal had infiltrated the ranks and files of the kingdom and justified CP Aduba’s claim that members of Kokori and neighbouring communities were shielding the criminal from the law.

    The criminals also ambushed and slaughtered at least one soldier and wounded three others attached to a Joint Task Force (JTF) checkpoint in one of the roads leading to the town.

    In response, the task force invade and threw a thick cordon of security personnel round the town. The Commander of 3 Battalion of the Nigeria Army, Lt Col Ifeanyi Otu personally led several operations to snare Kelvin

    The suffocating presence of security personnel in the town brought a brief respite, which led to Governor Uduaghan presenting the staff of office to James Omeru, a former Chairman of Niger Cat Construction Company, who had been selected as the Ovie of Agbon Kingdom. He adopted the title Ogurimerime Ukori I.

    Still the security forces, including JTF, police and State Security Service (SSS), continued an intensive manhunt for the renegade. Sources in the area said Kelvin was confined to a section of the forest in the area, where usually moved in the dead of the night. A newspaper report, which speculated that the wanted criminal had sneaked out of the country to the Republic of Benin, later turned out to be untrue.

    The Nation reliably gathered that when security dragnet closed in on him, Kelvin made desperate effort to top official of the state government. “He offered to surrender if the government would be granted him amnesty,” our source said.

    It was gathered that Governor Emmanuel Uduaghan, who was approached about the offer turned it down, insisting that Kelvin had committed too many atrocities and killed too many innocent persons to get a soft landing.

    It was in the midst of his desperate effort for immunity from his crimes that he allegedly resurfaced in Kokori on Thursday, September 19 to declare his preparedness to fight for the emancipation of the Urhobo people.

    He gave the Federal Government 60 day ultimatum to meet his demands in order to avert disaster. The story was that he stormed the community with masked youths armed with dangerous weapons. He was reportedly welcome by hundreds of dancing women and children, who described him as their saviour and a freedom fighter.

    Delta, Bayelsa still on U.S. travel alert

    No thanks to the activities of men such as Kelvin Oniarah, Delta and Bayelsa states still retain their slot on the United States’ travel alert. The most recent of the alert said of both states: “The oil-rich southwestern states of Delta and Bayelsa, on the Gulf of Guinea where piracy is on the rise and militancy by activists demanding a bigger share of oil riches from a government embroiled in numerous corruption scandals.”

    The alert made reference to kidnappings of foreigners and attacks against police forces in the Niger Delta.

    It added: “Criminals or militants have abducted foreign nationals, including U.S. citizens, from offshore and land-based oil facilities, residential compounds, and public roadways.”

    It adds that international companies and local authorities assert that the number of kidnapping incidents throughout Nigeria is underreported.

    And home invasions “remain a serious threat,” with armed robbers getting into even heavily guarded compounds.

    “Violent crimes occur throughout the country,” the advisory says. “U.S. citizen visitors and residents have experienced armed muggings, assaults, burglaries, armed robberies, carjackings, rapes, kidnappings, and extortion.”

    The advisory says nine foreign nationals, including Americans died last year in kidnappings in southwest Nigeria, three of them killed by their captors during military-led rescue raids.

    The advisory posted at the U.S. State Department website and dated January 8 tells citizens to expect little help from law enforcers known for harassing and shaking down foreigners and Nigerians at checkpoints.

    It says U.S. missionaries in northern Nigeria have received “night letters” – covertly distributed specific written threats to their safety.

    Pointing to possible targets of extremists, it says U.S. citizens should be particularly vigilant around government security facilities; churches, mosques, and other places of worship; locations where large crowds gather such as hotels, clubs, beer parlours, restaurants, markets and shopping malls; and all other areas frequented by expatriates and foreign travelers.

    The North has more Muslims than Christians, which continues despite an 8-month-long state of emergency that deployed thousands of troops to three states covering one-sixth of the country.

    “Late 2013 saw an increase in Boko Haram attacks and clashes with Nigerian government security forces in northern Nigeria,” the travel advisory says. “Boko Haram is known to descend on whole towns, robbing banks and businesses, attacking police and military installations, and setting fire to private homes.”

    It warns: “U.S. citizens should be aware that extremists could expand their operations beyond northern Nigeria to other areas of the country.” Boko Haram already operates in neighboring Chad, from which it kidnapped a French priest who was released earlier this month, and militants from Chad, Niger and Cameroon have been reported fighting alongside Boko Haram in Nigeria, raising fears the rebellion could also spread beyond Nigeria’s borders.

    The United States advises against all but essential travel to Bayelsa and Delta states, all 13 northern and central-northern states and Plateau State, for years the site of deadly ethnic-religious clashes.

     

     

     

  • Kelvin has 300 boys in Niger Delta, says suspect

    Kelvin has 300 boys in Niger Delta, says suspect

    One of the suspected kidnappers, who abducted Victoria, wife of Dr. Ona Ekhomu, has said that notorious kidnap kingpin, Kelvin, recruited and trained over 300 kidnappers scattered across the Niger Delta.

    The suspect, who gave his name as Akpevwe Richard, said he only met Kelvin once when the latter was distributing money to people in Kokori, Delta State.

    He was paraded at the headquarters of the 4 Brigade Nigerian Army.

    Richard, whose nickname is 2-Mark, said the kidnap syndicate used nicknames during operations to avoid mistaken identity and concealed means of tracking them easily by security operatives.

    He said his job was to drive his colleagues and drop them at locations after every operation.

    Richard said Kelvin, now in detention, was called ‘General’ because of the money he distributed, adding that he operated with boys picked up from Edo, Bayelsa, Delta and River states.

     

    He said: “I am 22 years old. I met Kelvin when I came from Bayelsa. I only met him once when he was sharing money. In the first kidnapping, I was given N90,000 and the next one I got N60,000. I was recruited by Rufus for Kelvin. A charm was given to me by Rufus, but I am surprised that the bullet hit me when a member of a vigilance group shot me. I’ve not followed them to an operation before.

    “I was their driver. I didn’t know when they kidnapped the judge. I was doing menial jobs before joining the kidnap gang. They always keep victims at Kokori, sometimes in the bush and sometimes at home. “The villagers don’t know we are kidnappers. I was arrested at Overi-Okpe. Onus called me to come and carry them. They entered the car and dropped the arms and ammunition in the car. We were stopped by security personnel and when they asked us, Onus said he was going to see somebody, but when they searched the car, they found bullets and shot Onus. Other gang members retaliated and all of us ran into the bush. I heard gunshots inside the bush until a member of a vigilance group saw me and shot me. I want them to forgive me.

    “Kelvin has many boys at Kokori. I have not been to Edo State before. Some people in Kokori know that we are kidnappers.”

    Spokesperson for the 4 Brigade Nigeria Army, Cpt. Roselyn Managbe, listed the items recovered from Richard as one AK47 rifle, 266 rounds of 5.65 ammunition, 9fn magazines, one police fragmented jacket, 16 mobile phones, charms, a Prado sport utility vehicle belonging to Justice Daniel Okungbowa, one BMW car marked Lagos GC 484 EKY, among others.

    Cpt. Managbe said 6,965 live cartridges, one barrel gun and a pistol were recovered from three persons, who deals in illegal arms trade while disguising as traders selling building materials.

    She gave the names of the suspects as Ernest Egbaneyalobor, Osagie Igiemwen and Matthew Iyekekpolor.

    Osagie said he only sell arms and ammunition to licensed hunters and that when he requested for operational licence, he was told that it was not available.

    He said he surrendered to the security agents because he wanted to stop selling arms after being on the run.

    Two persons, Barry Adiotonne and Saturday Ukpebor, who were arrested with a tanker loaded with 15,000 litres of illegally refined diesel, also attempted to bribe soldiers with N200,000.

    Cpt. Managbe said the suspects would be handed over to the appropriate authorities for prosecution.

  • Kidnap suspect Kelvin sues SSS for illegal detention

    Kidnap suspect Kelvin sues SSS for illegal detention

    Two rights activists in Delta State, Kelvin Ibruvwe Oniarah and Frank Azuekor, have sued the State Security Service (SSS) at the Federal High Court, Abuja, for allegedly detaining them illegally.

    In the suit, the applicants sought an order directing the respondents to immediately release them unconditionally.

    Oniarah and Azuekor said they are being detained at the SSS office in Abuja and have been falsely tagged as robbers in national newspapers.

    According to the applicants, who are members of the Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People (LIMUP), a faceless group in a media publication gave the Federal Government a 60-day ultimatum to develop Urhobo land, using LIMUP’s name, which led to their arrest.

    They prayed for an order directing the respondents to pay them aggravated damages for their illegal arrest and continued detention.

    They joined the SSS Director-General and the Attorney-General of the Federation as second and third respondents.

    The applicants sought a declaration that their arrest and continued detention by the SSS is illegal, unlawful, null and void as it amounts to a breach of their fundamental rights as enshrined in sections 34, 35 and 36 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).

    The first applicant’s father, Duke Oniarah Ibruvwe, who swore to the supporting affidavit because his son could not do so in detention, said their community, Kokori , is a host of flow stations and oil wells belonging to the Shell Petroleum Development Company and other multi-national oil companies.

    He claimed that the only land owned by his father – the Kokori/Ehrioke Oil field – was taken over by Shell for oil exploration after the company promised the community rapid infrastructural development, health care services, scholarships/training, as well as job opportunities.

    Ibruvwe said following the oil exploration, the community’s ecosystem had been devastated, with the indigenes faced with hardship due to the destruction of economic crops and aquatic lives.

    The first applicant, he said, led several protests to the council of elders, Shell and prominent political office holders from Kokori community, all of which proved ineffectual.

    Ibruvwe said to fight for their people’s emancipation, the applicants and other youths from other oil producing communities in Urhobo land formed the Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People (LIMUP).

    He said following a promise by the state government to look into their complaints, the applicants were shocked when another group claiming to be members of LIMUP, in a publication, gave the Federal Government 60 days ultimatum to carry out massive development in the oil producing communities in Urhobo land.

    Ibruvwe said the applicants were subsequently invited by the representative from the Delta State government for a meeting in Port Harcourt to explain their purported involvement in the ultimatum publication.

    “As they went on September 25 to clear their names, they were allegedly arrested by SSS officers, “ he added.

    Ibruvwe said contrary to reports that the applicants were robbers and kidnappers, they are liberators and freedom fighters struggling to improve the living standards of impoverished Urhobo people.

    He said the applicants have not committed any offence, have no criminal record, are being detained for an offence they did not commit and have not been charged to court or informed of the nature of the offence against them.

    The deponent added that the SSS are refusing the detainees access to their lawyers and family.

  • Like Anini, like Kelvin

    Either for good or for ill, history has a way of repeating itself. Remember Lawrence Nomanyagbon Anini, the notorious armed robber dreadfully called ‘The Law’ or ‘Ovbigbo’ in the defunct Bendel State? In the 1980s, Anini and his gang of blood-thirsty armed robbers held Benin City, the capital of the then Bendel State, comprising today’s Edo and Delta states, by the jugular. The hoodlums held everybody spellbound as they raided, robbed, maimed and killed at will. It was such a sadistic exploit that kept security agencies, especially the police, on their toes while their criminal ‘regime’ lasted.

    In the fight to contain their dare-devilry, many policemen lost their lives, many more were maimed, while the list of their victims read like a classroom register. The escapades of the notorious gang entered into national consciousness in 1986, when the then military President, General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida, gave Etim Inyang, the then Inspector-General of Police, a marching order to produce Anini “dead or alive”. A worried Babangida had confronted Inyang after one of the Council’s meetings with the question: “My friend, where is Anini?”

    That brief encounter appeared to be the final straw that broke the camel’s back as the echelon of the police deployed all they had – men and materials – in search of Anini and his gang. There were fears and apprehension in the then Bendel state while the hunt for Anini lasted. This was because of certain diabolical mysticism associated with Anini, who was largely rumoured to have heavily fortified himself with charms and amulets to evade arrest. At a point, the fear of Anini was the beginning of wisdom, as many of the policemen literally took to their heels whenever he was on the prowl.

    At the end of the day, Anini and his gang, including his fearsome deputy in the underworld, Monday Osunbor, were reined in. But before then, Christopher Omeben, then an Assistant Inspector-General of Police, who was dispatched to head the team of investigators that plotted Anini’s arrest, narrowly escaped death in the hands of the gang. If Omeben, now a pastor, was lucky, his driver, one Albert Otue, a Sergeant, was not that lucky. The driver was abducted by the gang members led by Osunbor and murdered.

    The arrest of the gang opened a Pandora’s Box as Anini started singing like a canary bird in police custody while begging for leniency. The trial of Anini led to the conviction and eventual shameful execution of George Iyamu, a Deputy Superintendent of Police, who was, until his arrest, the head of the anti-robbery squad of the Bendel State Police Command. Anini and his gang members had confessed that Iyamu had abandoned his call to service as a police officer and, instead, became the godfather of the criminal gang. He aided them with information on security movements which enabled the gang to beat police operations as well as supplied them with arms and ammunition. And when the end came, both Anini and Iyamu, including other members of the notorious gang, went down in a hail of bullets when they were publicly executed by firing squads at different times in Benin in 1987.

    Today, 26 years after, another hoodlum who goes by the name Kelvin Ibruvwe seems to have stepped into Anini’s shoes. This time around, his bestiality has gone beyond armed robbery. Kelvin and his band of well-armed hoodlums have made their satanic marks in kidnapping, rape, pipeline vandalism and all sorts of heinous crimes. He has become well known as the brain behind high profile kidnappings in many parts of the country in recent times particularly in parts of the South-west, South-east and South-south geo-political regions. His victims include eminent persons like Mike Ozekhome, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, late Chudi Nwike, a former Deputy Governor of Anambra State, who was killed in captivity by the gang, as well as Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, wife of a Supreme Court judge kidnapped with her daughter and driver on their way to Benin on May 10.

    A fortnight ago, unknown to him that his cup was about to be full, a boastful Kelvin appeared from nowhere, flanked by some of his gang members – all in military camouflage dress – and addressed a gathering of his kinsmen at his Kokori native town in Delta State. There, he gave President Goodluck Jonathan a 60-day ultimatum to address the degradation of his native land and other communities in the Niger Delta or face grave consequences. All that has now proved to be hollow bravado and nothing more than a façade that it is, as he was arrested in a hotel room in Port Harcourt in the wee hours of last Wednesday. His arrest, along with five of his gang members, was carried out by a combined team of the Army and Department of State Services, DSS, operatives, in a coded lightning operation.

    However, a few hours after his arrest, a shootout ensued between Kelvin’s ‘boys’ in his country home, Kokori, Ethiope-East Local Government Area of Delta State and soldiers. Nevertheless, the soldiers succeeded in arresting the chief priest (Ose Igba), said to have provided native charms for Kelvin and his gang to evade arrest over the years. All the while, Kelvin knew he was being monitored, but he did not know his end was so near. The security agencies only re-doubled their operational strategies after his infamous declaration where he handed over an ultimatum to the federal government to develop the oil community or his group would blow up oil facilities in the area. At that declaration, the hoodlum described himself as leader of the newly-found Liberation Movement of the Urhobo People, LIMUP, and said he had become a freedom fighter. That is now history.

    Kelvin lived like a kingpin. His tentacles and business interests cut across Delta State, Port-Harcourt, Enugu, Ibadan and Lagos. The kidnap baron shocked security operatives when he pulled a daring mission in Warri, some months ago, killing a number of prisons officials, as his gang ambushed warders and snatched two of his men being taken to court for trial. It was learnt that the police were deliberately sidetracked in this latest operation by the army and DSS, as neither the police in Rivers and Delta states were aware of the operation until it was concluded. Since then, his hometown, Kokori, has been taken over by soldiers, in an attempt to round up his boys as well as their arms cache. I am sure the aim is to put him away before he begins to think that he is a hero.

    Kelvin is believed to be currently undergoing serious interrogation in Abuja, where he is said to have made substantial revelations. I am quite sure such revelations will have something to do with his collaborators within the security agencies who gave him cover for his nefarious activities all this while. The fact that the police was sidelined in the operation that led to his arrest, shows that something is definitely wrong with the police hierarchy who might have been compromised all along. His interrogators will also have a lot to do to unravel his godfathers who are suspected to be mainly politicians and other highly-placed people in his community and state who may have benefited immensely from his criminal extravaganza.

    We are now being inundated with the fact that the crowd of people who gathered around him in Kokori on Tuesday, September 17, when he made his boisterous declaration, did so because of a promise that ‘oil money’ will be shared at the event. What that goes to show is the level of moral decadence in our society where the love of money has relegated decency and patriotism to the background. It is simply a rehash of the Anini episode in the 1980s, when the robbery kingpin was fond of gleefully spraying his booty in crisp naira notes along the road for people to pick each time his gang raided a bank’s vault. This was to divert people’s attention while they made good their escape.

    Surely, anything that has a beginning must certainly have an end. Like every criminal, the end has come for Kelvin, just like the end came for Anini and his gang in the 80s.

  • Kidnap kingpin Kelvin to SSS: please, don’t kill me, don’t kill me

    Kidnap kingpin Kelvin to SSS: please, don’t kill me, don’t kill me

    The arrogance and bravado that characterised the reign of Kelvin Ibruvwe, the leader of a notorious gang of kidnappers that had held the entire Niger Delta region hostage for months, has turned out an anti-climax in the custody of the State Security Service (SSS).

    Faced with the grim prospect of being brought to justice, the gang leader has seen his stern nature melt like ice in the hot sun, and all he can do is to plead with the law enforcement agents to spare his life.

    His victims had included eminent persons like human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Chief Mike Ozekhome, as well as Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, wife of a Supreme Court judge kidnapped with her daughter and driver on their way to Benin on May 10.

    And only a few days ago, he was his boastful self as he addressed a gathering of his kinsmen at his Kokori native town in Delta State, where he gave President Goodluck Jonathan a 60-day ultimatum to address the degradation of his native land and other communities in the Niger Delta or face grave consequences.

    All that, however, proved to be no more than a façade that harboured the true weakling that he is, according to reliable SSS sources.

    A source who spoke in confidence said that Kelvin, who was brought to Abuja for interrogation, had made substantial revelations.

    “Kelvin has made useful and shocking statements which cannot be released to the public now,” the source said. “I think Nigerians, especially the media, will have the opportunity either on Monday or anytime next week.

    “Contrary to his posturing, however, Kelvin is a weakling. He is afraid of death. He is downcast in detention. He does not want to experience what he had done to his victims.”

    Another source who spoke on the last minutes before his arrest said: “Like criminals before him, he was always in company of girls from one location to the other. He was trailed for many days but the SSS and the Army adhered strictly to the rule of engagement to avoid recording heavy casualties. It was a clinical job.

    “Before his arrest by the SSS and the Army, members of the Kelvin gang had held two youth corps members hostage. But when he was picked up, he was afraid of death and he was begging intermittently, ‘don’t kill me, don’t kill me.’

    “At this point, the security agents asked him to call his gang members and ask them to release the two corps members if he did not want to die. Kelvin then placed a call to his gang to release the corps members. But the realty was done on him that the game was over.”

    Responding to a question, the source added: “We have a strong suspicion that Kelvin and his gang were behind the kidnapping of Mrs. Adedoyin Rhodes-Vivour, who is the wife of a judge of the Supreme Court.”

    Ozekhome yesterday said his experience would make him to rededicate his life to God. He said his 21-day experience in kidnappers’ den would make him to rededicate his life to God. Ozekhome, who issued a statement from London where he is recuperating, said: “I thank all of you Nigerians, both at home and in the Diaspora, for all your incredible display of love, care, prayers and fasting for my release from the horrific dungeon of my kidnappers.

    “Please give almighty God all the glory, honour, praises, thanks and adoration for my liberation and freedom. Glorify him more for the prompt arrest of their gang leaders and kingpins in a most unprecedented swift manner. “I especially thank the entire media, both print, electronic, and social media activists, for using my 21 days ordeal in the kidnapper’s gulag as a veritable metaphor to bring to the front burner of national and international discourse, the vexed issues of the national question, insecurity, corruption bad governance, infrastructural decay and youth unemployment in Nigeria. “I shall rededicate myself to God’s eternal worship and reinvigorated service to the beleaguered Nigerian masses and exploited mankind in general.”

  • Kelvin of Kokori…The man who terrorised Delta

    Kelvin of Kokori…The man who terrorised Delta

    On Wednesday, September 18, Delta State’s most wanted criminal, Kelvin Ibruvwe, made a surprise return to his Kokori hometown in Ethiope East Local Government Area. It marked the beginning of his end. Southsouth Regional Editor Shola O’NEIL and Aiwerie Okungbowa chronicle the criminal career of the man known as Kelvin of Kokori

     

    Since his criminal escapades propelled him into the top list of Niger Delta’s most wanted criminal, Kelvin Ibruvwe, has become a mystery of sort. He is so popular that he is known simply by his first name. He is diminutive, wealthy and impudent.

    His hometown, Kokori, is an oil producing community in Ethiope East Local Government Area of Delta State. It is one of the six suburban ‘states’ of Agbon kingdom with a population of between 50,000 and 100,000 persons, occupying about 196 square kilometres.

    The fear of Kelvin was the beginning of wisdom in Kokori. Nobody crossed his path and went free. He was the defacto ruler of Kokori.

    He is not unlike Lawrence Anini, the infamous armed robbery kingpin whose fame and notoriety spread through the country in the mid-80s.

    Scores of verified and unverified sorties were attributed to him, so much so that he became known as the cat with nine lives.

    Kelvin’s notoriety as a crime lord was cemented in 2012 with his brazen kidnap operation and deadly high profile armed robbery operation in Warri, Eku, Abraka and other parts of state. He was also fingered as the ring leader of a vast kidnap syndicate, whose operation spread beyond the state.

    He placed his Kokori home town, one of the sub-clans that make up Agbon Kingdom in Ethiope East Local Government Area, on the world map, but for the wrong reason. The town has been tagged the headquarters of kidnappers in the Niger Delta region.

    Reliable police sources said eight of every 10 robbery operations in the Osubi-Eku- Agbor axis of the state were either planned in Kokori or executed by gunmen trained by the young man.

    The reputation of the Urhobo town was not helped by reports that some prominent chiefs were shielding him and his criminal gangs from the law. He was declared wanted by the Delta State Police Command earlier this year. The Commissioner of Police, Mr. Ikechukwu Aduba, said the efforts of the police to arrest him were thwarted by community leaders in the area.

    As bloody as he had been, Kelvin outperformed himself when he led a team to secure the release of his ally and fellow kidnap suspect, who was awaiting trial at the Okere Prison in Warri. Rufus, the suspect, and other suspects were being taken by wardens for a court appearance when they accosted them and opened fire on the prison vehicle, killing at least three wardens and two civilians before freeing their man.

    Their getaway was as loud as the operation: they shot their way through the heavy traffic from Okere Road, through the NPA Expressway to Effurun Roundabout, where they left trails of blood, bloodied victims, bullet-riddled cars and thousands of panic-stricken residents in their wake.