For members of a notorious kidnap gang operating in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, nothing could go wrong, but Wednesday, October 12, 2016 was the day the long arm of the law caught up with them.

The nine members of the gang, who were apprehended by the operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team in a five-hour raid that day, said they were so efficient in their criminal operations that they once kidnapped four victims on the same day.

The afternoon raid led to the arrest of Daniel Gabriel (33), Alaso Igodo (25), Akeodi Aselemi (34), Ayibinmotei Livinus (25), Anikuroka Marshal (33), Biebele Elijah (34) Efiye Anda (34), Daniel Lessor (31) and Isaac Reuben (27), all living within the Port Harcourt metropolis.

The police said the gang was responsible for most of the kidnappings that took place within GRA Phase 2, Port Harcourt, Borokiri General Area and YKC axis of Woji in Rivers State.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that the string of events which led to the apprehension of the nine suspects started with the abduction of a woman identified as Mrs. Okotie, who was kidnapped few weeks ago opposite the Royal House of Grace Church in Port Harcourt.

The gang was said to have abducted her in the Mazda car they used as operational vehicle.

The victim told the police that she had told the suspects that she was not feeling fine but they did not listen to her.

Fortunately for Mrs. Okotie, the car broke down along the way and the leader of the gang named Blackie, called for another vehicle, a Nissan Primera, which arrived shortly after.

“But they did not know that we had got information about them. They were on their way to the Ornage Waterside when we intercepted them. As soon as they saw us, they fled and abandoned the woman in the car along with one of their rifles,” the source said.

Few days after the botched kidnapping of Mrs. Okotie, IRT operatives who were following up on a lead, arrested Gabriel, a taxi driver, around 2.pm on October 12.

When Gabriel, an Akwa-Ibom indigene living at Navy Market Borikiri, Port-Harcourt was taken in for questioning, he confessed that he had personally been involved in 15 kidnaps in the last few months in the state.

He then led the police to his house where five members of the gang were already planning another kidnap.

“When we got to his house, we arrested five of his gang members and from there, we proceeded to Enugu Waterfront where we arrested Anikuroka Marshal, the gang’s armourer. The suspects also identified Diobele Elijah and Akodi Aselemi as their spies who go around town scouting for victims. They confessed to have three AK47 rifles, two pistols, which they use in their operations,” a police source said.

Saturday PUNCH learnt that in one of the kidnaps carried out by the gang, on August 10, 2016, a pastor, Mrs. Luis Ubah and one Mr. Chika Ezenwa were abducted. The same day, the gang kidnapped a business woman, Mrs. Ubah in her store, they also grabbed another victim identified as Ezenwa who was with Ubah at the time.

The four victims were taken by the gang to the Indoki Estate Waterfront.

The source explained that while on their way to the waterfront, the gang encountered a police team and instantly opened fire on the policemen.

“Inspector David Ijosi and one Corporal Dike Ledee were injured by bullets in the attack. One was hit in the leg while another was hit in the neck and the kidnappers escaped into the Isaka creeks in Okrika,” the source said.

Soon after, the gang made contact with Ubah’s husband, Bishop Prince Ubah, from whom they demanded a N50m ransom for her freedom.

During the ensuing negotiation, the ransom for the release of the bishop’s wife was reduced to N2.8m and a place was agreed on for the family to drop the ransom.

But in a dramatic turn of events, when two brothers of the bishop, Onyeka Ani and Pastor Okezie Akara, took the money to the agreed place on August 25, 2016, 15 days after Mrs. Ubah was kidnapped, the gang members decided to release her along with Ezenwa but kidnapped the two brothers instead.

The police said they then demanded another N1m ransom from the bishop for his brothers. But N750, 000 was eventually paid for their release.

Police investigation also showed that in August 2016, the gang kidnapped one Nkechi at YKC Junction in Woji Town, Port Harcourt, and she was transported to the Woji Waterfront where they ferried her by speedboat to Kula community in Akukotoru Local Government Area of Rivers State.

The woman was reportedly kept in captivity for two weeks and was released after a ransom of N2m was paid by her family.

In September, a victim identified as Coachie, who was abducted around Number One Stadium, Port Harcourt, was released after a ransom of N2.5m was paid.

In his statement, Gabriel explained that he came to Port Harcourt in 2015 and worked as a taxi driver but when things became difficult for him, he moved his family back home and joined his first kidnapping gang.

He said, “I met the members of the gang in March 2016. I was plying the Aba Road looking for passengers one day when they stopped me and entered my taxi. They asked me to take them to Borikiri in Port Harcourt.

“When we got there, I was surprised that they paid me more than I demanded and I told them that I wanted to know more about them. The leader who sat in front passenger seat then gave me his phone number and said he would like me to work with them.

“Few days later, they invited me to a hotel in Borikiri and told me what they did. In April, Blackie, the gang leader, called and asked that I should meet him in his hotel. When I got there, I met other members of the gang preparing for an operation. They showed me two bags containing guns and put it in my car. I then drove them to GRA in Port Harcourt.

“When we got there, the gang’s informant said we had missed the target, a woman, who had just left the place. While leaving, we saw a man driving a nice car and we kidnapped him. He was taken to the Indoki Estate Waterfront. We put him in a speed boat and took him to a camp across the river.”

Gabriel said they carried out many kidnappings and that in August 2016, when they kidnapped Mrs. Okotie, it was like God just wanted them to be caught.

According to him, he had no idea what happened to his car, which he converted from a taxi cab to the gang’s operational vehicle.

“When we were intercepted by the police that day, we left one gun in the car while escaping while Blackie escaped with one other rifle. He gave it to one of our boys, who normally kept our rifles. But after I was arrested, I took the police to the boy and they recovered the rifle and my cab,” he said.

However, in his confessional statement, Anda, a speed boat operator, said he got N200,000 each time he ferried the kidnappers and their victims to their camps across the river in his speed boat.

The suspect, a Bayelsa State indigene, said he was involved in pipeline vandalism and oil theft before the military destroyed the camps in which they “cook” the oil, referring to the numerous makeshift oil refineries that dot creeks where oil militants operate in the country.

“When I became jobless, my friends invited me to Port Harcourt to join the kidnapping business. I became their boat operator. Apart from the transport duty, I was also in charge of buying food for the gang members and the victims. I bought a speed boat with the money I have made so far,” Anda said.

Marshal (the gang’s armourer) on the other hand, said he was paid N40,000 per each operation.

The suspect, who is an indigene of Opobo-Nkoro Local Government Area of Rivers State, said he usually kept the guns in an abandoned bus parked inside the Baptist Church field in Borokiri.

“I did not usually go out with them for the operations. My job is to keep the guns,” he said.

Another suspect, Elijah, a native of Okrika in Rivers State, said he was lured to the gang by his boss, whom he identified as Elvis.

According to him, his role was to assist Elvis to monitor the movement of their targets.

“There was a time I followed Elvis three times to spy on a woman we wanted to kidnap. We could not carry out the operation because our leader, Blackie did not come on time. I was also with him in GRA where we kidnapped the woman who was rescued by the police. Elvis had only been giving me little money since I started working with him. But he loved to buy me a lot of drinks,” he said.

The police said investigation on the scale of the operations of the gang was still on and that they were making efforts to arrest other members of the gang who are now underground.

– Punch

Comrade Adeshola in an interview with Vanguard also disclosed that the new policy of the Lagos state government under the leadership of Governor Akinwunmi Ambode is collaborating with the association to give Bus Conducting profession a new look.

According to him, “presently Lagos state government through the Lagos State Drivers Institute, LASDRI is training and accrediting conductors in the state, adding that after the training the graduands would be employed as Bus Conductors and would be on the payroll of the government with a salary worth of N50,000 per month.

“The objective is to make the job of bus conducting attractive, respected and dignified as obtainable globally”, he said. Adeshola explained that there is a project in the pipeline by the state government to change the face of transportation system to enhance security and also provide employment opportunity in the state.

Speaking on the vision of the association, he said, since the establishment in 2008, it has been working relentlessly with the federal government through the national assembly as well as some state governments to establish its presence.

President Muhammadu Buhari formally married off his daughter, Fatima, to Malam Yau Gimba Kumo on Friday in Daura, his home town.

The wedding took place at the president’s residence on Mai’adua road, Daura at about 2.40 p.m.

The groom, who was a former Managing Director of Mortgage Bank, paid N100,000 as the bride price.

The marriage was contracted in accordance with Islamic injunctions and was attended by top Federal and States’ Government officials.

They included the governors of Gombe, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, and his counterpart from Bauchi, Alhaji Muhammad Abubakar. The Ministers of Interior, Mr Abdurrahman Dambazau; Defence, Mansur Dan-Ali; Inspector-General of Police, Ibrahim Idris; Controller-General of Immigration Service, Muhammad Babandede, and Director-General, Department of State Service, Mr Lawal Musa Daura, also graced the occasion. Minister of Steel and Mines, Kayode Fayemi was also there. Others were Senators Rabiu Kwankwaso(Kano), Mustapha Bukar (Katsina North); Ahmed Sani from Zamfara and Danjuma Goje from Gombe state.

Guests had unhindered access to the president’s residence, venue of the marriage, in spite the heavy presence of security personnel. However, only few prominent personnel had access to the main sitting room where the wedding took place. Praise singers and drummers were not left out of the ceremony as they added glamour to the event.

Thousands of stigmatized ‘Witch Children’ have found refuge at CRARN center, in Akwa Ibom.

The children were branded as “witches” by church ministers and have been cast out by their families and shunned by society.

One of them is six-year-old Israel Effiong, from Ikot Uso Ekong, Eket, who was accused of being responsible for his father’s illness. Fearing for his life, he ran away and hid in a bush for a year before he was rescued by Edoho,a volunteer with the organisation.

Edoho, himself is former child at CRARN Children Center. He now serves as one of the volunteers who rescue children to the centre.

“When my father became ill and taken to a hospital, my stepmom asked if I knew anything about his illness. I told her that I could not think of anything bad about my father because he’s the supporting me,” Effiong recounts.

“When his illness took a turn for the worst, my stepmom became angry with me.
In the nights, she’ll wake me up, tie my hands and legs then poured wild ants all over my body while asking me to relieve my dad from the witches coven. At times she would tie my hand and legs, began to hit my heads with sticks and electrical wires.

She stopped giving me food and locked me out of the house. I went and told the neighbors living close to us. She said she could not allow me to stay with her because my stepmother will be angry with her.

“The people living around us began to hate me and asked not to come close to their children. I went and slept in the village town hall. One night, some men came and saw me there, they brought me out and asked me to dance as witches. When I told them that I didn’t know witches dance, they used sticks and matches to beat me. A man who was passing by came and told them not kill me. They left me and warned me not come there again. I went and stayed in a bush and be coming out in the night to pick up leftover from the market garbage

“One day, I was tired and slept off in the market, a boy by name Edoho came and saw me there and told me he would come back and take me to a safe place where other children like me are living. I told him where I normally stay in the bush.

Yesterday, he came and took me the CRARN Children Center, Eket. I’m very glad to stay here because I would go to school again and sleep without fear of the unknown.”