President Muhammadu Buhari has directed the Inspector-General of Police and other security agencies to take all necessary action to ensure the safe and speedy rescue of Chief Olu Falae who was abducted from his farm on Monday.
President Buhari in a statement by presidential spokesman, Femi Adesina condemned the callous and reprehensible kidnapping of the former Secretary to the Government of the Federation and elder statesman.
The President assured Chief Falae’s family, friends and other concerned Nigerians that the Federal Government will do all within its powers to ensure his swift release.
President Buhari, who has requested constant updates from the police and security agencies on efforts to find and rescue Chief Falae, also denounced the recurring incidents of criminal abductions across the country.
He assured all Nigerians that ongoing efforts to significantly enhance the security of lives and property in the country will continue apace and that under his leadership, Nigerians, irrespective of their status, will no longer be left at the mercy of criminal elements.
Tag: Kidnapping
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Buhari promises to ensure Falae’s release
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Woman arrested for ‘kidnapping’ three kids
A 42-year-old woman, Mrs Nimotu Raheem, was yesterday paraded by Lagos State Commissioner of Police Fatai Owoseni for allegedly kidnapping three children at an Arabic School in Itire-Ikate, Surulere, Lagos.
The children are a set of twins Taiye and Kehinde, 4 and a 16-month old boy, Fatai Adeola.
Owoseni said police rescued the suspected kidnapper from being lynched by an irate mob on Wednesday night.
He said the suspect had demanded for the boy from his mother, who obliged her without questioning her motive.
“It was another woman who saw the manner the suspect demanded for the child and the mother gave the child out without any resistance or questions that now raised alarm. For the quick intervention of the police from Itire, the suspect would have been mobbed.
[ad id=”403656″]“At first, the suspect acted like a dumb person but after some tactics used on her by our operative, she started talking. We also got information that she has mental problem. All that she has said so far is useful to our investigation,’’ he said.
The police chief said the suspect had given the police some useful lead, promising to bring all those involved, including the sponsors to book.
Owoseni appealed to public to be vigilant, stressing that if not for the alertness of an old woman, the suspect would have gone with the kids.
He enjoined parents to monitor their children in Arabic and western schools and raise the alarm when they see strange faces around them.
Mrs Raheem, who said she had a two-year-old child in the same Arabic school, explained that she wanted to take the children to their parents.
“I went to take my child and also the twins to their parent,” she said.
An eye-witness Amina Ayinla said: “The suspect took the twins at about 7pm from Arabic school in the area and claimed that she was a relative of the twins’ mother but unfortunately for her, the grandmother of the twins saw her and alerted the neighbours who gathered and rescued them from her.”
Fatai’s mother, Temilola Adeola said the suspect used charm to take his son away from her in the Arabic class.
Another eyewitness, who gave his name as Ope, said yam flour, children’s pants and biscuits were found in the suspect’s bag by the mob.
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Kidnapping must be tackled head-on, says Peterside
•MOSOP happy with Kogbara’s release
The governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Rivers State, Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has said kidnapping must be curtailed.
He spoke yesterday when he visited the home of Donu Kogbara, the kidnapped Vanguard columnist who was released on Saturday by her abductors.
Peterside, who was accompanied on the visit by three former commissioners and seven former elected local government chairmen in Rivers State, met the publisher of Vanguard, Mr. Sam Amuka.
He said he was at Kogbara’s Port Harcourt home to rejoice with her and her family on her release and safe return, thanking God for delivering the columnist from her captors.
The APC chieftain called for a more decisive approach towards tackling kidnapping, adding that security was essential to growth and must be taken seriously.
In a statement by his Special Assistant (Media), Sylvester Asoya, Peterside said: “Security is critical to development, therefore kidnapping and all forms of threat to society’s peaceful existence must be tackled head-on.
“For me, the starting point is the economy. We must rebuild our economy so as to pave way for employment opportunities for every idle hand, not just in the Niger Delta but in every part of the country.
“As a people and government, the security and wellbeing of our people should be the barometer for measuring our success. It is only when we have sufficiently addressed the issue of safety that we can confidently say that we are truly on course.
“For that reason, those in authority, particularly security agencies must redouble their efforts towards tackling crime and its perpetrators. This prevailing climate of fear in some parts of our country must cease.”
The Movement for the Survival of the Ogoni People (MOSOP) yesterday described Kogbara’s release as a welcome development.
In a statement by its President, Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, MOSOP said Kogbara did not deserve the inhuman treatment from the kidnappers, who blindfolded her and kept her in solitary confinement and later handed her over to a fisherman on the high sea, who moved her in a canoe to the waterfront of Borikiri, Port Harcourt.
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Suspected female kidnapper’s mentally unstable – Husband
Indications emerged Tuesday that eldest of two women arrested by police operatives on Monday for alleged kidnapping, Eno Effiong has mental disorder.
The Nation learnt that her husband and father of the three children she was suspected to have kidnapped, Effiong, was located by officials of the Railway Police Command at AirForce Base, Ikeja, Monday night.
His location confirmed the address given by their four-year-old daughter, Happiness Effiong, who had insisted that the woman was not her mother and that her home was at the AirForce Base.
It was gathered that policemen were dispatched on Monday evening to trace all the addresses given by the woman and the infant, before the man was located.
Eno, alongside her teenaged sister, were arrested after passengers of a Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) vehicle suspected she must have stolen the kids she had with her.
The passengers’ suspicion was sequel to the continuous cry of a four-month old baby, (one of the three), with Eno refusing to breastfeed her.
Worried that she turned down all request to breastfeed the baby and could not cajole her, the passengers had alerted the police at Iddo, who arrested both women.
At the station, Happiness who gave the second girl’s name as Pateince Effiong, two years, had denied severally that Eno was her mother.
The child’s denial as well as the inconsistencies in the story of the woman and the teenager, prompted police detectives to trace all addresses mentioned by the parties.
Consequently, a police source who confirmed to The Nation that Effiong has been located, said the man had no idea his ‘sick’ wife took the children away.
He said: “The man was brought to the command and the little girl identified him as her father, Effiong. He was the one who told us that the woman has psychiatric problem and has been kept at a mental home.
“They live at the Air Force Base. The husband said he did not know that the woman had taken the kids away and he did not also know where they were going.”
Several calls to the state Police Commissioner, Fatai Owoseni were not answered, neither did he reply to a text message sent to his phone.
When contacted, the spokesperson for the AirForce in Lagos, Squadron Leader Obi Abasi said he has no idea and was yet to confirm.
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ROBBERY, KIDNAPPING KINGPINS IN TROUBLE, SAYS IG
Police Inspector General Solomon Arase declared yesterday that the force is poised for battle with kingpins of armed robbery, kidnapping, cultism and other social vices in the Southeast and Delta state axis.
He said the police will collaborate with governments at that level to deal with crime syndicates in the area.
Arase made the pledge in Awka at a South-East/Delta State Security Conference 2015 with the theme “Security, Bedrock of Governance.’’
The crime syndicates, according to him, are operating highly organized networks which must be crushed.
He was confident that the conference would identify ways to replicate the successful security concept being employed in other climes.
He also called for sustainable regional security framework, joint operation, funding and the political will by the various levels of government within region to make the approach work.
Arase lauded Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra for organising the conference. The governor said the time has come to stand up to all the crimes and criminalities that have stunted economic growth for decades in the region.
Describing security as the panacea for rapid economic growth and development, the governor observed that mankind’s greatest worry has always been how to ensure a safe and secure world.
Said he: “Our world has never been an easy place to live in. Speaking about mankind’s never-ending struggle for a better world, the great French philosopher, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the author of The Social Contract, observed in 1762 that “man is born free, and everywhere, he is in chains.” Ladies and gentlemen, man is in a different kind of chain today.
“The pertinent question we must ask ourselves is how long? How long shall the South East and Delta State and other contiguous states bear the brunt of brazen criminality and meaningless brigandage? How long shall our people’s well known enterprising spirit be driven away to nourish distant lands while our homeland wallows in squalor?”
He recalled that there was a time Anambra State experienced waves of gang rules in the commercial city of Onitsha that were so dominant that constituted authorities felt helpless under their brutal onslaught.”The story is very much the same across the states in the region and Delta State. It may vary in degrees from one state to another but this region has had a most troubling crime history for far too long. The time has come to wipe this dark history away!” he said.
In his remarks, Gov. Ifeanyi Okowa of Delta, described security as the “bedrock of good governance.’’
On his part, Gov. Okezie Ikpeazu of Abia, asked investors from the region to come home and create jobs to reduce the prevalent crime in the area.
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Fear grips Ogwashi-Uku over wave of kidnapping
Residents of Ogwashi-Uku, headquarters of Aniocha South Local Government Area of Delta, now live in fears following the renewed wave of kidnapping there.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) investigations revealed that no fewer than five cases of kidnapping had been reported in the community in the last two months.
NAN recalls that the community had allegedly been hit by a wave of high-profile kidnappings and cult killings in the last one year.
A community youth leader and Port-Harcourt-based philanthropist, Chief Peter Osume, told NAN on Tuesday in Ogwashi-Uku that the resurgence of violent crimes in the community was worrisome.
He called on the traditional institutions and security agents in the community to lived up to their responsibilities and address the security challenge that had bedeviled the community over the past two years.
“It is unfortunate that we are still where we are today. Kidnapping and secret cult killings in our community have left us perplexed and helpless.
“It is equally unfortunate that the traditional institutions and security agents in our community have failed to do what is expected of them.
“The time has come for all stakeholders in the community to do something urgent, because we cannot pretend to be safe in the face of this wind of destruction that is blowing our community,” Osume said.
Another indigene of the community, Mr Uwazu Ofordu, said that the situation there called for a proactive measure in dealing with it.
He called for the deployment of military personnel to the community to assist the police to stem the tide.
“The situation in Ogwashi-Uku calls for the presence of the military to checkmate this wave of violent crimes. Our community has not known peace over the past two years because of criminal gangs.
“Only recently, a relative called to say that I should consider relocating my aged mother away from the community, that is the irony of the situation we find ourselves,” Ofordu said.
NAN reports that the latest outcry by the community marked the peak of the tension that had gripped its residents following last week’s kidnapping of 90 year-old Madam Helen Ojeogwu.
The nonagenarian, alleged to have been forcefully abducted by a six-man armed gang from her family home in Azungwu Village on July 27, had since remained in the captivity of her abductors.
However, the state police command through its spokesman, DSP Celestina Kalu, allayed the fears of the residents of the community, adding that the situation was under control.
Kalu told NAN on phone that the command would rescue the old woman and apprehend the hoodlums terrorising the community.
She said that security operatives were on the heels of the kidnappers.
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‘Pastor’, 10 others arrested for kidnapping in Ekiti
•Fayose warns against ‘politicising’ kidnap
The police in Ekiti State have arrested 12 suspects believed to be members of kidnapping syndicates.
They include a self-acclaimed pastor, Babatunde Balogun, two women and ten others.
Balogun “gave spiritual support” to the suspects in return for a share of ransom money.
Four others now at large have been declared wanted. They are Kenneth Ozor, Jonathan Ozor, Kehinde Adeleye and Sunday Ogunleye.
They were said to be responsible for the kidnap of Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Akingbade and an Associate Professor at the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, Dr. Femi Omisore.
Parading the suspects yesterday in Ado Ekiti with Governor Ayo Fayose in attendance, Department of State Security (DSS) Director Duke Fubara and Police Commissioner, Etop James, said the suspects had confessed to the crime.
James said that the state command’s Anti-Kidnapping Squad has been working to prevent a resurgence of kidnapping.
Fubara explained that the collaboration between his agency and the police has been yielding fruit.
Fubara said: “We can all attest to the fact that the kidnappers terrorised the state from the first week of May. Their activities brought a lot of trauma to the people.
“Though, some of the victims have been released, we did not give in. We carried out investigations and we increased our network and the result is what you are seeing today.
“What we found with the composition of these suspects was that some of them were some of the inmates who escaped during the last November 30 jailbreak.”
Fayose, who described the war against kidnapping and other violent crimes as a “collective fight”, warned opposition politicians against politicising kidnapping and other crimes.
Lauding security agencies for their bravery, Fayose attributed upsurge in crimes to the Ado-Ekiti Prisons jailbreak, urging security agencies to intensify efforts to re-arrest the escapees.
Fayose said: “It is a collective fight. We have to fight this together, so that all of us can sleep with our eyes closed.
“Ekiti has been in torment since the jailbreak. But we want you to beam your searchlight on neighbouring states, such as Delta, Osun and Ondo because we suspect people come from outside to train our people here.
“If you study this very well, you will understand that the networks have been widened and we have to do everything to break it”.
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Sultan wants measures to curb rustling, kidnapping
The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, has called for stringent measures to curb the increasing menace of insurgency, cattle rustling and kidnappings.
According to reports, the Sultan made the call in Sokoto yesterday in his Sallah message to the Muslim Ummah in Nigeria.
The sultan said that all Nigerians, both the leaders and the led, were concerned over the loss of lives in the North East and other parts of the country.
Abubakar noted with concern the increasing spate of cattle rustling in Sokoto and Zamfara states, as well as kidnappings across the nation.
He appealed to the government to involve traditional rulers and other key stakeholders to eliminate these crimes.
The monarch appealed to the Muslim Ummah to sustain the lessons learnt during the Ramadan fast.
Abubakar also urged Nigerians to continue to live in peace with one another, irrespective of religious, ethnic and political differences.
The monarch further called for sustained efforts to ensure the success of the forthcoming Hajj exercise in terms of transportation and accommodation on intending pilgrims.
The event was attended by the second republic President Shehu Shagari and Gov. Aminu Tambuwal, among other dignitaries.
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Prison escapee, two others arrested for kidnapping
One of the inmates who escaped during a jailbreak in Ado-Ekiti last year, Olusola Adewale, has been arrested in connection with the kidnapping of a 75-year-old woman, Mrs. Rose Aina, last week.
Adewale, 35, and his accomplices, Owolabi Ojo and Adedayo Ojo, who are both 48-year-old, were paraded yesterday at the State Police Command headquarters.
Mrs. Aina was kidnapped from her home in Ilogbo-Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area last Tuesday by a three-man gang.
She was rescued by the command’s Anti-Kidnapping Squad at Ita Ogbolu in Akure North Local Government Area at 6.30 am yesterday, a week after she was abducted.
Commissioner of Police Etop James said two of the suspects were apprehended at Ita Ogbolu. The victim’s driver, who allegedly gave the syndicate information about her movement, was arrested in Ilogbo.
The police chief, who was represented by the command’s spokesman Alberto Adeyemi, told reporters that the syndicate had been involved in “high-profile kidnapping” in Delta, Edo, Ondo and Ekiti states.
James said two red Volkswagen Golf and weapons, including cut-to-size pistols, were recovered from them.
According to him, the suspects were arrested after security agencies tracked their numbers and anti-kidnapping operatives trailed them to Ita Ogbolu and secured the hostage’s release.
The police boss said no ransom was paid,adding that his men worked day and night to locate the hoodlums.
He said: “The vehicles seized were those that had been on our radar for long. The two vehicles were used to abduct the Reverend Father, Emmanuel Akingbade and many others in recent times.
“We are happy that Mrs. Aina recognised one of the suspects, so we are banking on these two backgrounds to be able to prosecute them.”
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Stern law on kidnapping soon in Rivers
Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has said his administration is planning to amend the anti-kidnapping law to empower the government to demolish or seize the property of kidnappers.
The governor said the bill would be sent to the House of Assembly for amendment.
He said under his watch, no kidnappers or their sponsors would benefit from the proceeds of the crime.
Wike spoke yesterday in Port Harcourt, the state capital, at a special thanksgiving service at the Royal House of Grace.
He said: “Under our watch, no kidnappers or their sponsors will enjoy the benefits of the crime. The Attorney-General has brought the bill and it will soon be sent to the House of Assembly.”
The governor also said his administration would take firm action against cultism.
He added that his would not be an era of complaints, but a time to rebuild the state and make it work for people.