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| Hassan |
The Inspector General of
Police (IGP), Solomon Arase’s elite squad, Special Intelligence Team (SIT), has
burst a gang in Oyo State, which specialises in kidnapping and robbing members
of their community.
The police arrested six
members of the community. One of the suspects, Hassan Maikudi, 30, was alleged
to have connived with the gang in kidnapping his rich father for ransom of
N1.5million.
Hassan Maikudi, who led kidnappers
to abduct his father, refused to answer questions. Detectives said that Hassan
monitored his father as he was going to mosque for prayers and alerted the
gang. Hassan had however denied being the person who planned his father’s
kidnap. He insisted that he was wrongly accused by his friends.
The suspects, Abdullahi
Mohammed 35, Abubakar Abubakar 28, Damanya Gambo 30, Usman Idris, Usman Saidu
30 and Hassan Maikudi 30, were arrested after several reports of armed
robberies and kidnappings of notable personalities.
Mohammad, a
Fulani native of Kwara State, a graduate of Mathematics from Kwara State University,
said he is married to two wives and has three kids. According to him, poverty forced
him to embrace crime.
Mohammed said: “There were several
operations we did together and I usually get my share of the money. Last month,
the gang went and kidnapped Alhaji Maikudi. He is a rich cattle rearer. It was
his son, Hassan, who brought the job. I didn’t and still don’t know his reason
for planning the kidnap of his father.
“Hassan is also my friend. He works
with his father as a herdsman. They have several cows. He gave the information
to Danmayan and they kidnapped his father and took him into the bush. They kept
him there for one week before N1.5m ransom was paid. The man was thereafter
released. During the operation, I was in the community monitoring what was
happening. I attended meetings and took part in the planning of how we would
carry out search and rescue of Alhaji Maikudi.”
According to the police,
two communities, Okeho and Iganna, in Iwajowa Local Government Area of Oyo
State had been under the strangulating grip of kidnappers and robbers for long.
The communities were made up of Fulani cattle herdsmen and Yoruba.
It was gathered that the
Fulanis and Yorubas, suspicious of one another, were about to embark on a clash
before Arase deployed his men to go undercover, mix with members of the
communities in order to find out those behind the incessant kidnappings and
robberies.
The tensed situation
forced Arase to deploy SIT to Oyo State, to track and apprehend the culprits.
Residents of these
communities which are towns bordering Republic of Benin, have been living in fear
over activities of these hoodlums. The residents described those behind the
robberies and kidnappings as “very powerful and children of rich Fulani
herdsmen.”
It was further learnt
that most victims were rich cattle traders, residing within Iwajowa LGA and
plying the route for businesses the neighbouring Benin Republic.
It was gathered that the
SIT operatives, on arriving Okeho and Iganna communities, went undercover for
two weeks, gathering information from locals, before swooping on the suspects.
Other members of the
gang are said to be at large. SIT squad recovered N200, 000 and several charms,
allegedly used in evading arrest.
When news of the arrest
of the suspects broke, members of the communities hailed the police.
A resident, Jimoh Abbas,
a native of Okeho, said that for long, Fulanis’ had been suspecting the Yorubas
because most victims were Fulanis.
Abbas explained: "The
Fulani elders in our community thought that it was we the Yoruba boys that were committing
these atrocities. Whenever we go close to them, they would look suspiciously at
us. On our part, we also suspected their boys. We noticed the lavish way
they spend money. We knew they couldn’t afford
that kind of lifestyle. Tension was building. We thank God
policemen from Abuja solved the problem."
Mohammed explained that
after graduating from the university, he secured a teaching job. His monthly
take home pay was N150, 000. He described the salary as miserly.
He said: "I quit my job because I wanted to join the Nigerian
Army. I applied but I wasn’t accepted.
I obtained an Ordinary National
Diploma (OND) from Kwara State Polytechnic in Mathematics and Statistics in
2005. I went further to obtain a BSC in Mathematics from Kwara State University.
I graduated in 2009 before proceeding for National Youth Service. I
started working in 2011. I got a job at a private secondary school in Okeho. I
was very popular among residents of the area, especially people of my tribe. I
grew up in that area with my parents and siblings. I was also staying there
with my wives and children. Most of my friends knew I wasn't making enough
money.
“Few months ago, two of them,
Damanya and Abubakar, approached me. They said that since I was highly
respected and well known in the community, I could make good money for myself
by giving them information about rich people residing in the community. I asked
what they needed to do with such information. They said in most cases, they would
either rob or kidnap such persons.”
Mohammed said that Damanya told him that
all they needed was for him to look out for potential targets and alert
them.
He recalled: “In the case of
kidnapping, I would be on ground to gather information from relatives of the
victims. In other cases, I would have to tail the target and give them
information on persons they planned to rob. We did a couple of jobs. I once gave
them information when they wanted to rob a cattle rearer after he sold cattle.
I informed them when the man came home. I followed him until he mounted a
motorcycle. I gave them the information. By evening, the news went round that
the man was robbed and the money he made from the sale of his cattle snatched.
In that operation, I got N40, 000.”
Remembering other operations,
Mohammed said that there was a time the gang blocked the highway leading to the
border and robbed traders going for business. The gang dispossessed them of
their money.
“Whenever they returned from such
operations, they would bring my own share. I guess this was because they didn’t
want me to tell anyone about them,” said Mohammed.
He recollected that after the kidnap
of Alhaji Maikudi, he, his father and some of those that kidnapped Maikudi,
joined in the frantic search for the man.
“Some of my gang members were also
with them. They were relaying information to those holding Alhaji hostage. On
my part, I was giving them information about any plan hatched by members of the
community. Hassan ensured that the sum of N1.5m was paid as ransom after some
of his father's cattle was sold. He got N700, 000 as his share. Me, Abubakar,
Damanya and Saidu got N200, 000 each. I had barely spent my money when I
was arrested,” said Mohammed.
He said that he was picked up in a
bar, where he had gone to have some drinks.
He said that he actually saw the
policemen drinking, but he didn’t know they were policemen. He had even
attempted to buy drinks for them. But before he knew what was happening, the
detectives had arrested and whisked him away
He mumbled: “I thought the policemen
were from Ibadan on routine raiding. I threatened to call my lawyer. It
was when I got here I realised I was in a deep mess! I told the police the role
I played and took them to my house and handed over my N200, 000 share of the
ransom to them."
Another suspect, Abubkar, a native of
Fulani, from Kwara State, confessed to have received the sum of N80, 000 from
the gang.
He said: "Whenever the gang
goes for operation, they usually give me my share. It was Damanya who instructed
Mohammed to bring the money to me. I’m not into the business full time. I have
my own business. I sell telephone accessories and everyone within our community
knows me very well. The only operation I took active role was the kidnap of
Alhaji Maikudi. It was his son, Hassan who brought the deal to Damanya. They
did all the preparations. Before the man was abducted, Hassan was the one who
monitored the road and informed us when his father left the house and headed to
the mosque. The man was waylaid and abducted.
“I was part of the search party that
went into the bush to look for him. I sent information to my colleagues. After
the operation, I learnt I had a share of N200, 000. I didn't get it before I
was arrested. I told them all I knew. I led them to arrest others."
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