By Suleiman Umaru
The recent End Bad Governance against Hunger and Hardship, protests across the Nigeria, organized by Take it Back Movement, linked to Sowere Omoyele, a former Presidential Candidate of African Action Congress, AAC, in the February 25, 2023, general election, now on the watch lists of the Nigerian Immigration Service, NIS, appears to have emboldened the Bandits and kidnappers, to operate with reckless abandon with fear that security Operatives may be on their trail.
Only recently, one Aminu Basullube, described as a notorious Bandit , who has been terrorizing Katsina, home state of former President Muhammadu Buhari, over the years, was said to have instructed one Hauwa Yusuf, a 30 year old woman, to collect a sack of garri from Danum Camp , a notorious area in the north western state.
Acting on intelligence, STS Operatives, had intercepted a sack of garri belonging to the 30 year-old katsina woman , on the Bandits Group fighter errand from Katsina Dutsi-Ma Local Government Area of the of the Buhari home state . She was said to be travelling from Lafia, Capital of Nasarawa state, to Katsina state in a Sienna Bus along the Abuja-Kaduna Express way on August 14, 2024, before she was arrested.
The suspected sack of garri which was said to have been searched found to contain an AK 4 rifle and four Magazines. In it. On interrogation, the Bandits Group gang errand woman had told the Police Special Tactical Squad, STS, interrogators, that she was paid N130,000.00 and given an additional transport fare of N15,000.00, to take the sack of garri to Katsina state .
Note that this is what hunger and hardship could cause as this has taken some young women in Zamfara, Sokoto, Kaduna and katsina, under the siege of Bandits to do the unexpected: become informants to Bandits or run errands to collect weapons hidden in sacks of garri or millet for them for a fee.
Not many are surprised that Bandits, who are living among the people of Dutima town in Katsina state, particular, have engaged the services of the young women to collect weapons for them in any part of the state believing the security agencies operatives would never suspect, let alone stop them while travelling for routine checks while travelling on the Federal highways.
. Recall that Armaya’u Bichi, a Professor and Vice Chancellor of Federal University of Dutsima, had cried out last July that some staff of the University are informants to the Bandits which was said to have it possible for them to attack both the staff and students.
The FUDMA, Vice Chancellor, in an interview with DW Housa, monitored by the Value News, had confirmed that the Bandits had penetrated the ranks of the staff, which had encouraged them to enter the staff and student quarters at will to kidnap them.
Although, the arrested Dutsima Woman, who appears to be working closely with the Bandits may not be a staff of FUDMA, but for the fact that he is from the Katsina state town may have informed why the University Authorities are very happy, believing that more of the Bandits informants and errand persons would be arrested by the STS, as a deterrence others.
While the Kayode Egbetokun, led Nigerian Police, NPF, STS, have beamed their searchlight on Dutsima town in Katsina state to cage the activities of the Bandits gangs, the situation appears worrisome in Anambra state and other parts of Nigeria where kidnappers were said to have returned to do what they know best: Kidnap for ransom.
Only recently, Patrick Mba, the Anambra state Commissioner for Youths and his wife were said to have been kidnapped at an undisclosed location along the Edo-Kogi Expressway on their way to Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory,FCT, to attend the weddinhg of Adaora , the daughter of Prof. Chukwuma, a one-time governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, and now governor of the south eastern state.
The Commissioner and his wife including his Aides, were said to be travelling in a Commercial Sienna Bus with other Passengers. The Commissioner’s Aide, whose name remained a closely guided secret was said to have been killed in the process. The kidnappers may have known that the security Operatives are closing in on them that they were said to have released the Commissioner and his wife on Saturday, August 17, 2024, after spending a day in their custody.
Perhaps, what may have touched Nigerians most in this gale of kidnap cases in the recent time was that of the abduction of 20 medical students of the College of Health Sciences of the University of Jos, Plateau state, on Thursday, August 16, 2024.
The UniJos, College of Health Sciences, medical students , who said to be on their way to Enugu state for the annual convention of the Federation of Catholic Medical and Dental students , were said to have passed through the Otukpo Local Government Area of the north central state of Benue but fell into the waiting hands of the Bandits along the Otukpo –Enugu road and their two branded buses commandeered into the thick forests .
An Otukpo indigene , resident in Lagos, the nation’s Commercial nerve centre, had said that in the past six years the Federal high ways from Otukpo to Ugbokolo, in Okpokwu Local Government Area down to Odoba and Otukpa in Ogbadibu Local Government Area has become the nation’s most dangerous road to ply due to the several kidnap syndicates controlling the thick forests and vast ungoverned spaces.
Given that the intension of the Bandits, turned kidnappers, is to raise funds to purchase arms to sustain the tempo of Banditry in the north central state may have informed why they have seen the kidnap of the 20 medical students as a good bargain.
Adeniran Adebanjo, spokesperson, of the Students’ Union Government, SUG, at the University of Jos, had said that the Kidnappers have demanded a ransom of N50 million to facilitate the release of the students.
Although, the University Authorities have established contact with the families of the affected medical students, but the Benue state Police Command are said to be fully engaged in addressing the situation , fueling speculation making the rounds that a peaceful resolution of the kidnap case will be reached soon for the 20 medical students regain their freedom.
However, angered by the abduction of the University of Jos, College of Health Sciences medical students, may have encouraged Egbetokun, the Inspector General of Police, IGP, to have ordered the ‘’prompt deployment of a substantial number of human and technical resources’’ to augment the manpower of Benue state police Command to ensure swift rescue of the medical students in Otukpo , Benue state.
Olumuyiwa Adejobi, an Assistant Commissioner of Police, and the Force spokesperson, who had reassured Nigerians of the Force unwavering commitment to rescue of the 20 UniJos, medical students, had said that the initiatives adopted by the IGP, so far, encompasses the mobilization of additional tactical units from the FID –STS and FID-IRT.
The Police spokesperson had said that this is in addition to the deployment of advanced helicopters and drones as well as the use of tactical vehicles to facilitate the search operations and secure the safe return of the victims still in the captivity of the kidnappers in Otukpo vat forests.
Appealing to Nigerians ‘’ to provide useful information and actionable intelligence that may aid the ongoing investigation and recue of the 20 medical students, the IGP, was said to have made it clear to those that cares to listen that the Force, is determined ‘’to sustain the fight against kidnapping and other criminal activities committed in the society’ in the recent time.
The IGP, who had aid that there was no cause for alarm was said to have reassured Nigerians that ‘’the Force remains resolute in its mission to protect the lives and property of all Nigerians’’ stressing that ‘’it will continue to work tirelessly to maintain peace, stability and the Rule of Law throughout the country’’.
Notwithstanding the measures taken by the IGP, to facilitate the release of the 20, UniJos, medical students, Peter Obi, a former governor of Anambra state and former Presidential Candidate of the Labour Part, LP, in the February25, 2023, general elections, would want the Nigerian Government ‘’to declare war against insecurity’’.
The former LP, Presidential Candidate, who is not happy over the incessant reports of kidnapping across the country had said that ‘’some people spin the narrative while others complain’’ but insists that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ruling All progressive Congress, APC, should declare war on the economy and insecurity to stop the rot.
