The Nation Newspaper

Tag: kidnappers

  • Kidnappers to face life imprisonment in Delta

    Kidnappers to face life imprisonment in Delta

    Governor Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta state, Friday in Asaba signed the Delta Anti-Kidnapping Bill into law, which provides life imprisonment for kidnappers.

    The governor also assented to three other bills as passed by Delta House of Assembly and presented by its Speaker, Mr Monday Igbuya.

    The other bills signed into law were the State Security Trust Fund Amendment Law; State Advisory Council on the Prerogative of Mercy Law, and State Economic Council Amendment Law, 2016.

    Okowa in his brief remarks said that the amended Anti-Kidnapping Law made provisions for the demolition of kidnappers’ houses and properties, acquired with proceeds from kidnapping.

    He thanked the speaker and members of the assembly for painstakingly delivering the bills in good time.

  • Kidnappers attack Castle Hotel in Bayelsa Government House

    Gunmen suspected to be kidnappers have attacked the Castle Hotel located inside the Bayelsa State Government House, Onopa, Yenagoa, the state capital.
    The gunmen were said to have stormed the hotel at about 11:50pm to abduct some Chinese expatriates lodging in the area
    The Castle, an edifice, which was formerly designed to accommodate government guests by the former administration, was converted into a hotel by Governor Seriake Dickson’s government as part of its plans to promote tourism in the state.
    It was gathered that the kidnappers gained access to the building through the River Nun channel at the back of the Government House.
    In sheer display of bravery, one of the expatriates was said to have deployed his skills in martial art to disarm a member of the gang.
    The expatriate was said to have hidden in a dingy corner of the building to hit one of the gunmen who cried out in pains and forced other members of the gang to fire sporadic gunshots.
    The gunshots were said to have attracted police operatives who raced to the scene and engaged the kidnappers in gun battle.
    It was learnt that the kidnappers later fled the scene abandoning their rifle.
    A security source who spoke in confidence described the action of the kidnappers as daring.
    The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mr. Butswat Asinim, confirmed the development but referred to the location of the incident as expatriate quarters in Onopa.

  • ‘My wife, daughter still alive… but in distress in kidnappers’ den’

    •Husband of abducted Ogun council official explains family’s ordeal

    Dr. Tokunbo Oshin, the husband of the abducted Director of Information in Odogbolu Local Government Council, Ogun State, has revealed that his wife, Nofisat Oshin, and daughter, Miss Afolabi Oshin, are “still alive,” but they “sound distressed” in the den of their abductors.

    Oshin, who is former Deputy Speaker of Ogun State House of Assembly,  said the suspected kidnappers had established a telephone contact with the family.

    He added that he had spoken with his wife and daughter.

    But he was silent on whether any step had been taken regarding the N150 million ransom demanded by the abductors.

    Oshin spoke yesterday when a delegation of the state Council of Nigeria Union of Journalists(NUJ) led by the Acting Secretary, Mr. Anthony Gandonu, former NUJ Zonal Secretary Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji  and Chairman, Local Government Information Chapter Mr. Seun Abati, visited him in Ijebu-Ode.

    Nofisat and her 15-year-old daughter, Afolabi, were abducted last Thursday around 8p.m, at the entrance of their Imoru home in Ijebu-Ode.

    They were thereafter whisked away to unknown destination at a gun-point.

    He said: “The incident happened last Thursday. My wife and daughter were in the car and they were almost entering the premises, when the abductors blocked their car with their own car.

    “In fact, the gateman had already opened the gate for them to drive in.

    “Those who saw them said they transferred my wife and daughter into their own car and drove off, while one of them drove my wife’s car.

    “They later abandoned my wife’s car along Idowa-Itokin Road. I want to thank the governor for his concern. He has contacted the Department of State Service (DSS) and other security agencies in a bid to rescue my wife and daughter.

    “Immediately the kidnappers left, men of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) and vigilance service swung into action, thinking  the suspected kidnappers’ escape could be slowed down and perhaps trapped in a traffic jam.

    “The kidnappers had established contact with us and I have spoken with my wife and daughter. They are still alive, but they sound rather distressed.”

    Oshin appealed to the kidnappers to set his wife and daughter free to enable them re-unite with the family.

    He called on Nigerians to join him in prayers for their safe return.

    “The day I will see the two of them will be my happiest day. And I believe that they will come back to this house alive,” Oshin said.

     

     

     

  • Abia police arrest 11 suspected kidnappers, robbers

    Abia police arrest 11 suspected kidnappers, robbers

    Men of the Abia State Command have arrested 11 persons suspected to be members of a kidnapping, armed robbery gang that been causing havoc in various parts of Aba, the commercial hub of the state and its environs.

    Out of the 11 suspects, three were said to be involved in kidnapping activities, two in armed robbery, while the rest six were arrested allegedly for being in possession and dealing in hard drugs.

    The suspected kidnappers, Bright Nwokengbe, Gomba Kaji and John Onyemuwa, were accused of abducting an unnamed Yoruba man in the city.

    Nwokengbe,19, who was accused of being behind several kidnapping activities in the state, was said to have been arrested in Port Harcourt, Rivers State, by a crack team of police intelligence team, while the rest two were nabbed in Aba after a robbery operation.

    Onuoha Okpani, a labourer in Aba and Jeremiah Kalu, who claimed to be a commercial bus driver, were both arrested at Umukalika axis of Aba for alleged armed robbery.

    Items recovered from them included mobile phones and the sum of 20,000 (from both of them), part of the it loot from a robbery operation which they were yet to dispose before luck ran out on them.

    Other members of their gang were said to be on the run as police said it has launched manhunt for them.

    Parading the 11 suspects before newsmen at the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) office at Ogbor Hill, Aba, the State Commissioner of Police, Joshak Habila, said that the arrest was possible because his men were able to analyse and utilise information given to them appropriately.

    He claimed that most of kidnapping incidents in the state, especially in Aba and its environs come from border communities.

    “Most of the kidnappers are now coming from communities that border Abia with other states and we have been cooperating with the police in those states and one of the results is what you have seen today (Saturday)”.

    Habila said his command had a new road map it is now using to reduce crime cases, especially kidnapping, in the state and expressed joy that the woman who had been providing the kidnappers’ food and other needs had been arrested and their hideout taken over by government.

    The CP advised criminals in the area to renounce their trade and come back to real life to add values to the society, stressing that police in the state would not take it kindly with any person arrested for criminal offence.

    He advised the public to always volunteer information to the police, promising that such information would be treated with utmost confidentiality.

    Apart from Nwokengbe, who denied involvement in kidnapping, rather claiming he was arrested in his elder brother’s stead, others admitted to the crime.

    While Gomba Kaji and John Onyemuwa confessed to the crime of kidnapping, saying they received N120, 000 each for passing information which led to the abduction of the Yoruba man, to their gang members, Onuoha Okpani and Jeremiah Kalu said they were lured into robbery by their friend they described as one Maduekwe (now at large) and were given N6,000 each after the operation, which preceded their arrest.

    The six drug suspects, who were arrested in their hideout within the Imo Gate axis, all confessed to the crime and blamed the devil for their actions.

    About 10 pieces of cutlasses, raps of cocaine, candles, drug tester and among others, were found in their custody.

    All the suspects were taken into custody pending their arraignment.

  • Imo pulls down homes of suspected kidnappers

    Imo pulls down homes of suspected kidnappers

    The Imo State Government yesterday demolished the homes of suspected abductors who were arrested by the police in the recent onslaught against kidnapping and other crimes.

    The demolition, tagged: Operation Osheebe, was led by Deputy Governor Eze Madumere, Police Commissioner Taiwo Lakanu and the Commander of 34 Artillery Brigade at Obinze, Brig.-Gen. Kay Isiyaku.

    Over 10 buildings were demolished at Ohuba, an agrarian community in Ohaji-Egbema Local Government Area.

    Police sources said most of the kidnapping were coordinated from a forest in the community.

    It was learnt that the victims were kept in the community in connivance with the villagers, who concealed the information from security agents.

    Madumere said the operation was in line with the determination of the Rochas Okorocha administration to prioritise the security of life and property of the residents.

    The deputy governor said the government would not rest until those behind abduction, robbery and other crimes were brought to justice.

    Madumere, who was shocked by the mansions the suspected criminals had built, noted that the demolition was a strategy to create lasting impressions on the minds of the people to serve as a deterrent to others.

    The deputy governor said the government would have committed an unpardonable error if it allowed those known for ill-gotten wealth to continue to show off with it.

    He said: “Such will be contradicting the cherished value and the very foundation of the society.”

    Lakanu said the demolition of the homes of criminals and their accomplices would send a warning signal that whosever indulged in crimes.

    He said those abetting and protecting them would not go unpunished.

  • Relocate from Kogi, Bello warns kidnappers

    Relocate from Kogi, Bello warns kidnappers

    Kogi State Governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello has declared war on kidnappers and cultists in the state. He warned kidnappers and other undesirable elements to relocate.

    The governor spoke at the weekend in Lokoja following the abduction of the traditional ruler of Elete community in Ajaokuta local government area, Chief Aminu Ahmed.

    The monarch was reportedly kidnapped last Friday by suspected hoodlums on the Ajaokuta-Lokoja road while returning from Adogo around 9pm.

    Governor Bello noted that efforts to reduce crime were yielding positive result, and vowed to ensure that those behind the dastardly acts are fished out and prosecuted.

    Bello, who hinted that he donated 12 operational vehicles to the law enforcement agencies to combat crime, urged them to step up action by embarking on the aggressive manhunt of criminals.

    He admonished communities to be vigilant and report suspicious activities to the law enforcement agencies.

  • Capital punishment for kidnappers

    SIR: It is gratifying that the Senate has begun the process of the enactment of a law that will prescribe capital punishment  for kidnapping across the country. In a motion entitled “National wakeup call”, the Senate seeks to end a national opprobrium that has become endemic because of legal lacuna assailing prosecution.

    If this commendable bill sails through, it would be one of the best legislative endeavours to be enunciated by the eighth National Assembly.

    The next and a more exigent bill would be on corruption or stealing of public funds. Whereas the last president attempted to create a suspicious dichotomy between stealing and corruption, no translucent mind would buy into such dichotomy.

    Corruption has assailed the past, the present and the future of Nigeria perhaps more than any other known infraction since independence. It has placed Nigeria permanently on global hall of infamy. It has significantly reduced life expectancy, caused a geometric scale of Internally Displaced Persons, escalated unemployment rate and blighted the potential of Nigeria to join the comity of developed nations.

    The NASS will engrave its legacy in gold if corruption is made to attract capital punishment.

    However the bill must seek to graduate punishment according to the quantum of the perpetrated sleaze.

    Any sleaze in the region between half a billion and one billion naira should attract death penalty; N100 million to N500 million to attract life jail; N100 thousand to N500 thousand to attract 10 years imprisonment and one naira to N100 to attract one year imprisonment.

    Whereas  this type of legislative activism could trigger vulnerability among NASS members, the redeeming effect can translate each member into a national hero while posterity would indelibly inscribe this heroism in the consciousness of generations unborn.

     

    • Bukola Ajisola,

    Victoria Island, Lagos.

  • Senate seeks death sentence for kidnappers

    The Senate yesterday resolved to enact a legislation prescribing  the death penalty for kidnappers.

    The resolution followed the submission and consideration of the report of the Joint Committee on Police Affairs, National Security and Intelligence on the “unfortunate recurrence of kidnapping and hostage-taking in Nigeria.”

    Senators were outraged that kidnapping and hostage-taking, which used to be contained in the Southsouth and Southeast, was  becoming widespread.

    Senator Adamu Aliero (Kebbi Central), who spoke, proposed that the National Assembly should enact a law prescribing the death penalty for kidnappers.

    The proposal was seconded by Senator Dino Melaye (Kogi West).

    When Senate President Bukola Saraki put it to vote, the prayer was unanimously adopted.

    Chairman, Senate Committee on Police Affairs Senator Abu Ibrahim, who presented the report following the Senate’s mandate that the committee probes the upsurge in kidnapping and hostage-taking, said the committee resolved to invite the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Solomon Arase, Director-General, Department of State Sevices (DSS), Lawal Daura and Minister of Interior, Lt. Gen. Abdulraham Dambazzau (retd).

    The Katsina South lawmaker noted that after sessions with the security chiefs, the committee discovered that though kidnapping started in the Niger Delta where oil workers, mainly foreigners, were targeted, nothing serious was done to stop it.

    He said the committee also found out that while security agencies were tackling kidnapping and hostage-taking, “kidnapping and hostage-taking is now nation-wide.”

    Ibrahim added that they observed that the modus operandi of the kidnappers was known to security agencies.

    He said the agencies had not performed optimally due to inadequate funding to enable them procure modern technology.

    The lawmaker noted that the committee observed that “there appear to be unnecessary and unhealthy rivalry among security agencies leading to lack of required synergy and intelligence sharing on time.”

    He noted that relations of the victims of kidnapping were always ready to pay ransom, which tended to encourage the criminals.

    The committee recommended that funding of security agencies should be taken as a priority bearing in mind that the practice of envelop budgetary for security agencies was ineffective.

    The committee also recommended that employment should be created for youths and that states should enact laws to enable security agencies prosecute kidnappers and other crimes in their jurisdiction.

    The committee said the IGP, DSS and other security agencies should be encouraged to do more.

    Melaye  asked the Senate to come up with measures to address kidnapping.

    He said “kidnappers should die by firing squad or by hanging.”

    Aliero said capital punishment should be prescribed for kidnapping.

    He blamed the upsurge in kidnapping on the get-rich-quick syndrome.

    Aliero insisted there should be a national law of capital punishment, saying leaving states to enact laws against kidnapping was not enough.

    Senator Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West) queried the upsurge in kidnapping when the Federal Government had almost contained Boko Haram.

    He noted that suddenly, kidnappers have shifted from Southsouth and Southeast.

    Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu recounted how he was once kidnapped in Enugu and spent two days with the kidnappers.

    Ekweremadu who said professional kidnappers were more dangerous than those who kidnap to rob, noted the only way to discourage them was not to pay ransom.

    He said Nigerians should cooperate with security agencies by refusing to pay ransom, adding that when a relation of his was kidnapped, he didn’t pay.

    Senator Ben Bruce (Bayelsa East) said kidnapping should be treated for what it is, a crime.

    He recalled when condemned criminals were taken to their villages, tied to the stake and shot.

    Bruce, who said there must be consequences for kidnapping, regretted that there was no consequence for the crime.

    He noted that if a kidnapper knew he would be killed or jailed for 50 years, he would think twice before committing the crime.

    The Senate, he said, should rework the report because it did not cover all areas while the government should speak with embassies and former Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon who handled post-civil war social problems.

    Saraki said besides efforts by security agencies, the National Assembly should look at other laws to address the problem.

  • Anisulowo: How the Kidnappers waylaid us – Aide

    Anisulowo: How the Kidnappers waylaid us – Aide

    A staff of the kidnapped Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, Mr Wasiu Afonja, has given insight into what happened before gunmen abducted his principal at gun point.

    Iyabo, a former Minister of State for Education was abducted by gunmen on Wednesday evening, at Igbogila area of Ogun State while returning from farm, according to her younger brother, Kola Popoola.

    Also abducted along with Mrs Anisulowo is her security aide.

    The Ogun State Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said the Command got a report that Anisulowo was kidnapped in the evening by armed men.

    Adejobi added that the State commissioner of police, Abdulmajid Ali, had despatched team to the area, Ilaro, for the rescue operation and also assures the victim’s family that she would be rescued unhurt soon.

    But on Thursday, Afonja who claimed to be driving the woman in a vehicle at the point of the abduction, said four man gang attacked them before whisking the former Minister of state for education away to an unknown location.

    He said the kidnappers waylaid them about a kilometre from the farm with lightening speed, attacked them in a ‘commando-like’ fashion and also collected their phones before taken Anisulowo away.

    “They ordered the three of us who were with Mama down. They collected our phones and beat us with machetes.

    “The men spoke both English Yoruba languages. Mama kept asking them what they wanted but they didn’t answer.

    “It was around evening we discovered the abandoned jeep around Iganokoto,” Afonja said.

    Also speaking, the commander of the Vigilante Service in the area, Oluyemi Zachaeus, said they had information that Anisulowo was spotted hooded and was being conveyed on a bike.

    According to Zachaeus, the information filtered from from Obalado, a community near the scene of kidnap.

    Also, the NSDC official attached to Senator Anisulowo Damola Akinwande, said the gunmen did not prevented them looking into their faces as they ordered with hectoring voice to look away while also assaulted them with machetes.

  • Police parade eight kidnappers of three Kaduna pastors, 450 others

    Police parade eight kidnappers of three Kaduna pastors, 450 others

    The Kaduna Police Command yesterday paraded 258 criminal suspects, including eight kidnappers of the three Reverends abducted in Kaduna recently.

    The three Reverends: Dr Emmanuel Dziggau, Yakubu Talba Dzarma and Iliya Anto, who eventually died in his abductors’ custody, were kidnapped on March 21 while inspecting their church’s building site along the Kaduna-Abuja highway.

    The kidnappers paraded included Lawal Usman, Zakari Yau, Mohammed Dani, Sure Bako, Mustapha Sadiq, Babangida Sule, Usman Abdullahi and Bake Shaaban.

    Parading the suspects in Kaduna, Assistant Inspector-General of Police (AIG), Zone 7, Bala Nassarawa, said they were arrested after careful study and identification of their hideouts through intelligence gathering.

    Asked what the police was doing to arrest the killers of Colonel Samaila Inusa who was abducted and killed on March 26 around NNPC junction, Kaduna, the AIG said a team of investigators sent by the Inspector-General of Police, Sunday Arase, Kaduna Command’s criminal investigation department and the military, were working in synergy to bring the perpetrators to book. He said: “In prosecuting the campaign of getting rid of miscreants in Kaduna State, I requested and got contingents of personnel from Counter Terrorism Unit (CTU), Special Protection Unit (SPU), Intelligence Response Team as well as Forensic and Crime Data Unit from Force Headquarters in Abuja.

    “We have identified many criminal hideouts of these armed bandits across the state and equally have a dossier of some renowned car snatchers.”

    He added that one AK-47 riffle with 16 rounds of live ammunition, N100, 500 and other foreign currencies, a motorcycle and three passport photographs of a kidnap victim were recovered from some of the kidnappers.

    On the mechanism used by the police to arrest the suspects, the AIG declined comment for security reasons but was quick to add that cell phones used by the suspects in the operation were recovered.

    Some of the kidnappers interviewed denied the allegation levelled against them, claiming that they were victims of circumstance.

    One of the female suspects, Rose Bernard, said that she, alongside her boyfriend, Olofo, had gone for a drink in a hotel located at Nassarawa area of the state at about 7:00 p.m. on Sunday when the policemen came and arrested them. She added that she had not received any explanation on her arrest and detention.

    Other suspects paraded included armed robbers, rustlers, rapists and drug traffickers, among others.