Juliana Francis
A 30 years old suspected kidnapper, Isiaka Hamidu, has confessed to kidnapping a housewife, Hussena Adamu and collecting N20million ransom from her husband because the man was stingy.
Hamidu also said that he was very angry with the victim’s husband, Alhaji Musa Ahmad, a businessman based in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
He explained that his brother served Ahmad for 11 years and when it was time to settle the boy so that he would go and start his own business, Ahmad gave him a paltry N250,000.
Infuriated by what he perceived as wasted years of his sibling, Hamidu decided to make Ahmad pay.
The first idea that jumped into his head was to kidnap someone from Ahmad’s family for ransom. He knew the businessman was rich enough to pay for ransom.
Hamidu has the plan running riot in his head and already has relevant information about Ahmad’s family members in his palm, but lacked the manpower and wit how to execute his plan successfully.
He went shopping for gang members. He and the gang members successfully collected the ransom of N20m from Ahmad and were already painting the town red, when Operatives of the Intelligence Response Team (IRT) of the Force Intelligence Bureau (FIB-IRT) of the Nigeria Police busted them. The operation was led by the head of IRT, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Tunji Disu.
At least four gang members, among six, were arrested. The suspects are Isiaka Hamidu, 30, Nwasaneo Goodluck 34, Victor Nwidee, 29, and ThankGod Bariledun, 36, who is the taxi driver.
Hussena was kidnapped near Casablanca Club GRA Port Harcourt on the 31st of March, 2022, at gunpoint. She was kept in the kidnappers’ den at Bori Khana Local Government Area for seven days before her husband paid N20m as ransom.
Hamidu said: “I used to be a parrot and peacock dealer based in Port Harcourt before this operation. I contacted other members after I traced and got all the information on the victim. One of my brothers served the husband of the victim for 11 years and the man only settled him with N250,000 after he decided to get married this year.”
Hamidu, who police alleged was the prime suspect in the kidnap operation, added: “After the N250,000 was paid to my brother, I was not happy with the businessman. I decided that kidnapping him or any of his family members was a good way to avenge the maltreatment he meted out to my brother. I contacted Goodluck, who is a longtime friend and narrated the matter to him. We agreed and further planned on how to carry out the kidnapping with help from others.”
According to Hamidu, it was Goodluck that eventually called and invited a gang leader, identified as Ojukwu. Ojukwu has his own gang and often used them to execute other gangs’ operations. It was Ojukwu who finally mobilised and coordinated the kidnapping of Hussena.
Narrating how the money was shared, Hamidu said he collected N1.3 million. One of the suspects confessed to having used his share of the money to wine, dine and bed girls.
Goodluck, who said he is a Higher National Diploma Holder (HND) from Abia State Polytechnic, Aba, admitted that the key suspect Hamidu contacted him about the kidnapping and he then called the gang leader, Ojukwu, who invited his gang members.
He further said that the gang leader after the successful abduction of the victim and payment of a ransom of N20 million gave him a total of N5.5 million to share with three other gang members
He collected N2 million, and gave ThankGod the same amount, while Isiaka got N1.3 million and Victor N500,000.00.
Stating his own side of the story, ThankGod said: “I didn’t it was kidnapping. They approached me that they wanted to hire my car. I used my car to take the woman to the gang’s den in Bori Khana LGA after the incident. The gang leader used my car to stop the victim while she was on her way to the school to drop her children off before they took her into a commercial vehicle. Ojukwu brought in three other men on the way to the house of the victim, who helped to stop the victim in her car.”
The fourth suspect, Victor, said that his role in the operation was as a ‘lookout,’ for the gang while the kidnapping took place.
Victor added: “I collected N500,000 from Goodluck after the operation. I didn’t know others before the operation. I used my share of the loot to buy a Toyota Corolla car which was tracked and taken into custody by the police.”
Police said that one minibus, one Toyota Avensis tinted glass car and one Toyota Corolla car were recovered from the gang.
Police investigation showed that Ojukwu is also a leader of a cult group, Dem-Bam, operating in Khana LGA of Rivers State and has been on Police Wanted List for murder.
The Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Usman Alkali Baba, had earlier directed the flushing out of all kidnappers terrorising all the nooks and crannies of Nigeria. He also charged Police teams to always ensure diligent prosecution of all criminals arrested in connection with such violent crimes in the interest of justice and security of citizens.
