It is the most audacious move yet of bandits, kidnappers, terrorists forsaking highways for homes in the FCT and elsewhere in Nigeria. From their forest redoubts along the highways where they snatch people in transit, the criminals are moving into homes where they surprise victims Gestapo-style thus giving a literal meaning to Francis Bacon’s jibe that “if the mountain will not come to Muhammad, Muhammad must go to the mountain.” The reward is huge for the bandits but tragic for families losing loved ones. ..
The kidnappers arrived at the Ariyo household in Sagwari Layout Estate in Dutse Abuja on a day and time everyone would be home. It was a Sunday, after church, after the Sunday rice and roast. That time when families sit and watch television together or troll news on their Android or I-Phones alone.
It was the interval between a weekend of lounging and a busy week ahead, when parents and wards look forward to going to work and school the following workday.
It never got to be for the Ariyos. What happened instead was a surprise visit by some armed men in military uniform who raided their house around 7.30pm. By the time they left, the household was short by several people – Ariyo’s wife and daughters.
The kidnappers departed as stealthily as they came, arousing no suspicion whatsoever in a neighbourhood where Oladosu Folorunso Ariyo has lived with his family for many years. Nothing of such had happened before in the estate, not even house breaking by a famished rogue looking for a leftover lunch.
This was a big time crime and the perpetrators meant business. They wanted N60m in ransom money to free his wife (also a lawyer) and daughters otherwise…
Of course, the lawyer didn’t have that kind of money and the kidnappers didn’t wait to find out. They killed his 13-year-old daughter Michelle Folasade Ariyo and left her body along Kaduna Road where her father retrieved the corpse.
Now, his wife and remaining daughters are still in captivity, reason for Ariyo making a supplicatory submission to his colleagues and, by extension, Nigerians last week.
“The kidnappers called and demanded 60-million-naira ransom, out of which through generous donations from friends and family, I’ve been able to raise the sum of several million naira which they have vehemently refused to collect.”
Four days later, another father and resident of Abuja was facing the same crisis as the Ariyos.
Kidnappers had gained access to the home of Alhaji Mansoor Al-Kadriyar in Zuma 1 of Bwari Town Abuja. The head of the house was home with his daughters, six of them. The criminals herded all of them, including their father, to their hideout from where they released Mansoor to look for a ransom of N60m.
The man was still at it when, just like Ariyo, news got to him that one of his daughters, Nabeeha, a 400-level student of Biological Sciences at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, had been murdered by the bandits. Her corpse was dumped somewhere near a military barracks. What was the reason for the bandits killing Nabeeha?
“Delay in providing the ransom,” they said, and then threatened to kill Mansoor’s remaining daughters if…
The kidnappers have now raised the ransom to N100m per captive, which ought to have been paid last Wednesday. As of press time, the distressed father is asking for donations from well-meaning Nigerians so his daughters can regain their freedom.
“Kidnapping has become a business model in Nigeria,” said Ambassador Oamen Roy Okhidievbie, a security expert and member of U.K based Africa Security Forum, adding, “people even kidnap themselves, and collaborate with elements to kidnap loved ones and others. We have kidnap for ransom, ritual, vendetta and radicalisation.”
In a note obtained by THEWILL, Okhidievbie contended that the situation is so bad that “insurgents now lay claim to entitlement mentality.”
He said: “They declare ownership of a geographic region and cultural identity and religious beliefs. What either one is, it’s spurred by perceived marginalization, weaponization of political differences and extreme external incursions by ISIS, and others. Worst case is the United Front of criminality against the mineral resources of the country and creating distractions whilst mining and bunkering illegality persists.”
The Ariyo and Kadriyar families are not the only ones beholding to criminal gangs abducting people randomly and holding them hostage. Similar stories were a daily staple for Abuja residents from the month of December 2023 till Thursday last week, even after President Bola Tinubu met with the Service Chiefs the previous day, following repeated pleas from distressed and hapless Nigerians in the face of the abduction epidemic across the country.
Like a contagious virus spreading from the Centre of Unity, the atrocities of the bandits are seeping through the pores of every available Nigerian land space, ravaging the occupants into stupefied submission and confusion.
The North Central, North East and North West geopolitical zones have been home to peripatetic gunmen who not only sack and occupy far flung communities in the Sahel but also take them hostage. Apart from the bombing of the Nigeria Police Force Headquarters in 2002, for which Boko Haram claimed responsibility, the FCT has been a relatively safer place than the combustible towns and cities to the north. Not anymore. The FCT has become a special target of bandits, sowing seeds of despair and destruction among the residents.
Residents of other towns and cities in Nigeria are equally feeling the heat from kidnappers.
Three days after the surprise invasion of the Ariyo household in Abuja, a home in faraway Gusau was similarly raided by bandits. The target? Mallam Bello Janbako, Director of the Centre for Research, Federal University, Gusau in Zamfara State, where he is also a lecturer of Islamic Studies.
The armed bandits appeared in the dead of night, scaled the fence and landed in his Damba home in Gusau at 2am. Mallam Janbako could do nothing but follow his abductors.
From the North down to the South-West, it is the same grim story of abductions, particularly in Lagos and Ogun states.
In Lagos State, for instance, Miracle Adereti, a 13-year-old schoolgirl, was on her way home from school with her sibling when some unknown men, who must have tailed her for days, accosted her and took her away with them in a vehicle. Her parents quickly reported to the police that she had not been seen since then. It was early last December. In mid-December still in Lagos, a car dealer was also whisked away by gunmen somewhere from his plaza near Spare Parts Market, Ladipo in Mushin.
The man, aka Ejike Conversion, was said to be taking inventory in his warehouse when gunmen ambushed him and his boys around mid-day. Shots fired by the attackers dispersed his boys, leaving the startled Ejike alone. The gunmen dragged him into a waiting vehicle and then zoomed off.
Another victim was similarly abducted somewhere in Ago Palace Way this January. The kidnappers are demanding N500m.
A resident of Lagos and project architect, Daario Naharis, would also have been a victim of kidnapping in the same Ago Palace Way when passengers in a Toyota Camry double crossed him along the road. Reacting to his flight response, Naharis got out of his car then hoofed it as fast and far as he could from the criminals.
Neighbouring Ogun State has also had its fair share of kidnappers on rampage. Pa Adeife Ifelaja, 70, a pig farmer and elder of a parish of the Redeemed Christian Church of God in Ijebu, planned to spend the crossover from December 31, 2023 with his family and members of his church, thanking God for His mercies and hoping for the good things to come in the following year. It never happened, as bandits invaded his residence and then took the unwilling guest to their hideout. They held him hostage for more than a week and then demanded N50m ransom to free the old farmer.
Neither is the South-East free from marauding bandits who have been hard at work, seizing victims on the road and at home. On December 15, 2023, gunmen ambushed and captured 10 travellers along Ette–Umuopu /Enugu-Ezike Road in Igbo Eze North Local Government Area of Enugu State. Earlier in that month, gunmen kidnapped Kingsley Eze, a Catholic priest chauffeured by his driver in Imo state. They held his driver hostage as well.
In its December 2023 security Intel report dated January 16, 2024 and made available to THEWILL, a foremost security consulting firm, Beacon Consulting, highlights a surge in violent criminality by Non-State Armed Groups (NSAGs) and security-triggered events as a result of socio-political developments.
The case for abductions, Beacon Consulting’s report noted grimly, is stark for the country.
“Our report shows a surge in abduction cases resulting in 11.85 percent increase compared with the November report. A total of 519 persons were abducted across 229 local government areas in 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, which came first in the states with the highest number of abductees with 67 civilians and one government official.”
Borno and Sokoto states, the report also stated, came first and second, respectively, with 122 and 75 abductees in December 2023. In their overall analysis, Beacon Consulting showed that for January 1 – December 31 2023, Nigeria recorded 6,525 security incidents including security operatives’ actions as opposed to 5375 in 2002 representing a 21.40 percent increase.
In a previous report covering the same period, Beacon Consulting reported that bandits killed no fewer than 9,754 out of a total of 4,049 abductions across the country. Since families of victims are averse to disclosing how much ransom money they paid, there is no record yet of the total sum paid to criminals during the same period.
“We can only guesstimate how much money families of victims paid to kidnappers and never know the exact sum,” a security expert told THEWILL. He concedes, however, that it must be in several millions of naira, if not billions.
How true! It is the same big money, non-taxable money that is fuelling hostage taking in Nigeria now. And more than anything else, the families of victims are ever so willing to pay, if only to secure release of their loved ones. But then, there’s the rub: paying kidnappers to keep victims from harm provides them with funds to better arm themselves to strike again.
In the Reporter at Large section of The New Yorker of July 6, 2015 by Lawrence Wright headlined “Five Hostages,” a U.S. government official suggested that paying kidnappers and terrorists ransom only fuels their criminal escapade. “Ransom payment lead to future kidnappings, and future kidnappings lead to additional ransom payments,” the official said.
“It all builds the capacity of the terrorist organisations to conduct attacks,” insisting that “the U.S. Government estimates that, between 2008 and 2014, radical Islamic groups collected more than two hundred million dollars in ransom payments, which allowed those groups to spread. ISIS might not exist in its present form without the funds that kidnapping provided.”
In that sense, kidnappers in Nigeria today would have gone out of business if it wasn’t for those paying ransom. It is true that rather than lose their sons, daughters, parents, uncles, aunties or cousins, families of victims will readily pay ransom fees. Possibly alluding to the fact that families of victims keep kidnappers in business following the recent abductions, Mohammed Badaru, Minister of Defence, urged Nigerians to stop paying kidnappers.
“We all know there’s an existing law against payment of ransom,” Badaru said. “So, it is very sad for people to go over the internet and radio asking for donations to pay ransom. This will only worsen the situation; it will not help.”
Predictably, President Tinubu not only condemned the fresh wave of attacks on innocent Nigerians but also had a special meeting with his service chiefs to brainstorm on the disturbing trend.
“We will not rest, I promise you, until every agent of darkness is completely eliminated,” Tinubu later said of the abductions at the presentation of two books on his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, at Transcorp Hotel, Abuja.
However, security expert, Chidi Omeje, panned the Federal Government for not doing enough concerning the abductions.
“The issue of kidnapping in this country is just incredible. People who travel by road are in fear. The government does not seem to understand that there is an issue. I am perplexed because every day there is a kidnapping incident in one state or the other.
”We have the NSA, Service Chiefs, Police, and NSCDC and they are doing nothing to address the situation. The Minister of FCT, Nyesom Wike is more interested in travelling to Rivers State for rallies and campaigns. Nigerians are traumatised. People cannot travel safely. It is unfair,” Omeje said.
But Wike did hold crucial meetings with security chiefs in the Federal Capital Territory in the wake of the attacks. Also, at the meeting were area council chairmen, traditional rulers and heads of communities.
Wike told his listeners: “All of us are aware of the security situation in the Federal Capital Territory, particularly Bwari and some other areas that have witnessed security challenges. Our concern is that for the Federal Capital Territory that has virtually every Nigerian, we owe a duty to make sure that this place is safe, to do all we can, and we assure Nigerians who reside here that there is no need for panic.
“We are taking every step to make sure that those challenges are things that we must resolve. So, this meeting is practically to look into such challenges and see how we can resolve the problems. And that is why we invited all the council chairmen because they also have a responsibility in their various area councils. We will put our heads together and come up with solutions. For the press, it is just for you to know that we are not sleeping, security agencies are also not sleeping.”
The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, was fully awake at just about the same time, meeting with his senior officers, subordinates and ordering a complete “decimation of insurgents across the country, especially in the Federal Capital Territory.”
With Force Management Team, tactical squad and squad commanders in attendance, Egbetokun set up a Special Intervention Squad (SIS) to be drawn from the Mobile Police Force to seriously tackle the menace of terrorism and opportunistic crimes in the country.
“Envisioned to include a thousand personnel in each state, the SIS is launched today with officers and men from each tactical unit of the Force, supplemented by a formidable arsenal of operational assets, including sophisticated arms, drones, and vehicles. These assets, some of which are displayed here, are ready for deployment to counteract the security threats. This deployment symbolises our unwavering commitment to the safety and security of our people, sending a clear message that criminal elements will find no sanctuary within the FCT and, by extension, Nigeria,’’ Force Headquarters Police Public Relations Officer, Olumuyiwa Adejobi, said.
To be sure, abductions are not new in Nigeria. Restive youths in the Niger Delta once made it their pastime in settling grievances with multi-national oil companies operating in their respective communities. That time is history now. Now in its place is the opportunistic, masterfully conceived and well executed abductions in homes and highways.
So, what is to be done to solve the problem of abductions?
In the study sent to THEWILL, Dr Kabir Adamu, Managing Director of Beacon Consulting, said, “an improvement of the criminal justice system, including a reinvigoration of the traditional justice system and restorative justice, is one of the ways forward. Also, the security agencies should ensure compliance with the existing national security framework and enhance cooperation, collaboration and coordination, if they are to meet the imperatives of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration as contained in the presidential priorities.”
To say that solutions have not been proffered in the past is to tell a lie. One-time Minister of Defence, Gen. Theophilus Danjuma (retd), urged Nigerians to arm themselves to repulse possible attacks by non-state aggressors anytime, anywhere.
The first time Danjuma made that appeal was in 2017. In 2022, he sounded the bell of alarm again when bandits and terrorists laid siege to parts of the country, especially in the North and Middle Belt.
The military brass exhorted Nigerians back then, “Today in the country there is evidence everywhere; the foreign bandits are killing and taking over lands in all the places. I will not give you arms. You have to find out how the bandits got theirs and find yours too.”
The inference is that if armed men know for certain that you are equally armed, perhaps with more sophisticated weapons at home or anywhere for that matter, they are more than likely to forgo their surprise attack on the Ariyos, Kadriyars and many households where they have now sown seeds of despair and destruction.
Ambassador Okhidievbie calls for what he refers to as a “double barrel” approach.
According to him, the personnel that will carry the equipment must be trained, retrained and well -motivated, cared for and respected by the public and the government they serve. He suggests a sustainable system of community policing governance: The people and the police is a workable suitability.
He said: “If and when this begins to happen, the real neessities for equipment and training will surface, it will be cheaper for the government and implementation will be seamless. One factor to consider in procurement of equipment is the ability to maintain and sustain its operational capability. Too many “buy and dump” happens. Equipment and gadgets must be solutions driven. They must have considerable survival potential to weather, geographical conditions and terrains.
“Lastly, crimes, criminals, threats and vulnerabilities are variable factors for consideration too. We should know what we are protecting against? Kidnapping? Cybersecurity? Insurgency? Armed robbery? Terrorism? “
On Friday evening, the news broke that many persons were kidnapped between Ikere Ekiti and Iju in Ondo State. The victims were said to be travelling in two vehicles, a Toyota Corolla and a white Highlander. Eye witnesses said the heavily armed men led their victims into the bush before the Police and men of Amotekun, the local security outfit, spread across the South-West states, except Lagos, could get to the scene of the incident.