SUBAIR MOHAMMED unearths a new dimension to the disturbing trend of missing children in Lagos Mainland.
LAGOS Mainland is fast becoming the hotbed of kidnapping in Nigeria’s most populous state as police contend with new cases while those earlier reported are yet to be conclusively resolved.
The evildoers, who mostly target children, are also said to have developed a peculiar way of deceiving parents of their targets and residents of communities picked for their nefarious activity.
‘They disguise as madmen’
Two communities in the Mainland axis, Otto and Otumara, now appear to be the regular hunting grounds for the criminals as a cumulative of 15 children between the ages of two and five have been reportedly abducted in the last two years.
While Otto community accounted for 10 of the missing children, Otumara has had five children stolen by the criminals.
Barely a month after three-year-old Umar Farouk was kidnapped in Otto community of Lagos Mainland Local Government, Otumara community, located within the same district, has recorded a new case of kidnapping.
However, unlike Farouk and others, who disappeared without a trace, four-year-old Ayomide was lucky as his abductor, Moshood Mohammed, 31, was caught in the act. He escaped being lynched by the angry residents.
The botched kidnap attempt has now thrown Otumara community into apprehension and forced residents to become more vigilant and conscious of their environment. They now keep their children indoors.
Within two years, 14 children are now reportedly unaccounted for in the axis, causing the residents and law enforcement agents to come to a realisation that the state might gradually be turning to a haven for kidnappers who specialise in abducting children.
The state police command, however, said it is doing everything to bring the perpetrators to book with the arrest and detention of Mohammed as a pointer.
Thee spokesperson for the command, Benjamin Hundeyin, told Saturday Tribune that investigation had been launched into the recurring cases of kidnapping in the state, especially in the Lagos Mainland district,.
Confirming the latest incident, Hundeyin said: “The suspect was arrested for the alleged kidnapping of a four-year-old boy. He has been taken into custody. We are conducting our investigation.”
He assured the residents of adequate security while reaffirming the command’s commitment to investigating reported cases of kidnapping and other criminal activities.
Saturday Tribune sighted Ayomide and his mother at the police station where the suspect was initially detained but efforts to trace them at the community yielded no success. Residents were not ready to disclose their whereabouts.
I’m mentally sick –Suspect
Following Saturday Tribune’s double reports on the Otto kidnapping saga, some residents of the Otumara community had alerted our correspondent to the botched attempt, leading the reporter to go in search of the detained suspect. Eventually Saturday Tribune was able to listen to his side of the story which shifted from admittance of guilt to excuses for committing the crime.
The suspect, Moshood Mohammed, is currently undergoing interrogation at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, over the alleged abduction. He earlier denied the allegation of kidnapping levelled against him by the residents. The haggard-looking suspect, who wears tattoo all over his body, said of the body design: “It is a symbol of recognition. I drew the tattoo when I was in Onitsha because of the non-Yoruba indigenes that found it difficult to pronounce my name. The tattoo stands as a means of identification. I made it in Onitsha when I was still on the street. I was a cobbler in Onitsha but left the job when I had mental illness.”
Speaking on his current ordeal, he said: “I was shocked when I was faced with kidnapping case. I don’t know how it happened. I have been battling depression since I lost my capital. I was shocked when people screamed at me that I kidnapped a boy. Perhaps I kidnapped the boy unconsciously.
“I was almost killed by angry residents. They smashed bottles on my head and threw stones at me. I was rescued by the personnel of the Neighbourhood Safety Agency. I admitted to kidnapping the boy out of pressure mounted on me by the people. I had to admit to kidnapping the child to avoid being killed by the people. I almost fell into insanity in December 2021. And that was exactly what happened.”
Different tune?
He had earlier reportedly confessed to the crime while at the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency office in Otumara community, from where he was transfered to the police.
According to him, his kidnap victims are sold to a Muslim cleric in Ilorin, Kwara State.
From a traditional healing home in Alore, Ilorin, to a slum community in Lagos Mainland Local Government Area in Lagos, he explained how he got himself trapped in the kidnapping saga.
He said: “I didn’t know anyone in the community and neither did I have any mission there. I was wandering about until I found myself in the community. I can’t explain how I got there. I was a psychiatric patient in Ilorin where I was receiving treatment for a mental illness. This was my plight until five days ago when I decided to escape to Lagos.
“I remember trekking from Alore in Ilorin to Ogbomosho. In Ogbomosho, I pleaded with someone to pay my transport fare to Lagos. He did.
“But instead of dropping me in Lagos, the driver stopped at Ijebu-Ode. So, I had to find my way to my final destination, which was Lagos. Eventually, I did but I don’t know how I got to the community. I was not stable mentally. I became conscious when I heard people throwing stones at me and smashing bottles on my head that I had kidnapped a boy.
“When I entered the community, I saw some little boys playing on a field. One of them walked up to me to beg for money. I felt pity for him, so I offered him N50 out of the N150 I had on me. But rather than being thankful, immediately I gave him the money, I heard voices screaming that I wanted to kidnap him. They started beating me. I was arrested and taken down to the police station.
“But the truth of the matter is that I was mentally unstable. I was not pretending. I was truly depressed and therefore I didn’t know when and how I kidnapped the boy in question. Until my problem started, I was into shoe-making. I made so much money from the business but I lost everything and fell into depression.
“My problem is spiritual. It started when my brothers invited me to Ilorin to come and buy land. The moment I bought the land was what I remembered last.
“I lost all the money in my account. I lost my job; I lost everything. I left Onitsha when things turned sour for me.
“I was a street boy in Ilorin. I lived on tolls from the street. When money was not forthcoming, I left and went into shoemaking. I did all sorts of things when I was on the street. I smoked weed. I worked as a local government ticket agent in Ilorin. I also worked as a political thug of a top politician. Our leader is a prominent politician in Ilorin.
“When I found thuggery unrewarding, I stopped and then concentrated on my shoemaking job.
“I spent close to three years in Onitsha as a cobbler. I made ready-to-wear sandals and shoes for wholesalers. The money I got last on shoemaking was N50,000 for 20 pairs at N2,500 per sandal. I made so much money in Onitsha but I wasted all the money on frivolities.”
How he was nabbed –Residents
A resident of the community, Dawodu Bamidele, gave an account of the incident to Saturday Tribune.
He said: “We left Panti Police Station late in the evening (of Wednesday). We were seated at that spot (pointing in a direction) on the day the event took place. That place is a dumpsite. It is a restricted zone.
“The suspect came in through that path barefooted. He looked haggard and dirty. Children were playing around in the compound, so they were frightened.
“I called out to him asking where he was heading to. He responded that he was trying to exit the compound to the main road and I told him there was no exit road there.
“Rather than turn back, he attacked my son, Khaleed. When I saw that people were frightened by his look, I quickly moved to save the situation. My instinct told me that I should trail his movement. I suspected that he had an ulterior motive.
“As he was walking out of the compound, some children were playing around. At this time, he held N150 note which he gave to Ayomide, a four-year-old boy that was among the children playing. Immediately he gave the money to the boy, he covered him with his T-shirt. I ran to him and ordered the boy to drop the money on the floor. I told him to pick the money but he refused. We started exchanging words and this attracted the attention of the people.
“At this point, people had gathered. They were prepared to lynch him. To avoid this, we handed him over to the personnel of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency who reported the case at the Iponri Police Station. He was later transferred to the SCID, Panti, where he is currently being interrogated.
“His brother, who had insisted on his innocence, ran away after he heard that the suspect had been transferred to Panti. This should tell us that he was an accomplice in the kidnapping.”
Another resident, Olorunnibe Adio, disclosed that kidnappers disguising as madmen usually invade the community to scout for victims.
He said: “He would have successfully kidnapped the child but for the vigilance of one of the residents. Cases of kidnapping are becoming alarming in the community.
“Recently, a child was kidnapped. This would have been the second kidnapping in a matter of months but it failed. They would walk into the community and disguise as madmen and women to kidnap our children. On many occasions, I have chased many of them out of the community.
“With the way the suspect easily shifted his emotions and utterances, it is evident that he is an experienced kidnapper. When he was arrested, he maintained his innocence but later he confessed to the crime. After his arrest, he confessed that he sold his victims to one Alfa Yunusa in Ilorin but when he got to the police station, he refused to utter a word.”
Moshood is truly insane –Brother
Elder brother of the suspect, Ibrahim Mohammed, said his younger brother had been battling mental illness for six months.
He said: “He was receiving psychiatric treatment in Ilorin when he was declared missing. He had been missing for five days. We have been everywhere in Ilorin looking for him until last Friday when I got a call that he had been arrested for kidnapping.
“Before he went missing, a senator came to where he was receiving traditional care to check on his daughter who is also receiving care at the healing home and complained that Moshood was not supposed to be receiving care there. So, the herbalist in Igbo Nla, Ilorin, asked us to come and take him away.
“While we were preparing for an alternative place, we heard that he had run away. I went to Jolayemi Hospital to inquire about the cost but it was too expensive. Moshood is not a kidnapper. He has been battling mental illness for the past six months. That is what caused him to misbehave.”
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The PDP spokesman recalled how the opposition party had on various occasions alerted that the APC government had ceded sovereignty over a large portion of our country to terrorists, “many of whom were imported into our country by the APC.”
He further stated: “From the video, in a brazen manner, terrorists as non-state actors boldly showed their faces, boasting, admitting and confirming their participation in the Kuje Prison break, some of whom were former prison inmates who were either jailed or awaiting trial for their previous terrorism act against our country.
“Nigerians can equally recall the confession by the Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam Nasir el-Rufai that the APC government knows the plans and whereabouts of the terrorists but failed to act.
According to Ologunagba, about 18,000 Nigerians have been killed by terrorists between 2020 and 2022 “as the criminals continue to be emboldened by the failures and obvious complicity of the APC and to which the PDP had always drawn attention.”
“This is not politics; this is about humanity and leadership, which leadership sadly and unfortunately is missing in our country at this time,” he said.
The PDP added that it is appalled by “the lame response by the apparently helpless, clueless and deflated Buhari Presidency, wherein it told an agonizing nation that President Buhari “has done all and even more than what was expected of him as Commander in Chief by way of morale, material and equipment support to the military…”
“This is a direct admission of incapacity and failure by the Buhari Presidency and the APC. At such a time, in other climes, the President directly leads the charge and takes drastic measures to rescue and protect his citizens.
“In time of adversity, the President transmutes into Consoler-in-Chief to give hope and succour to the citizens. Painfully, Nigeria does not have a President who cares and can stand as Consoler-in-Chief to the citizens.
“It has now become very imperative for Nigerians to take note and realize that the only solution to this unfortunate situation is to hold the APC government accountable. We must come together as a people, irrespective of our political, ethnic and religious affiliations to resist the fascist-leaning tendencies of the APC administration.
Ologunagba called for an urgent meeting of the National Council of State to advise on the way to go over the nation’s worsening insecurity.
“Our nation must not fall. The resilient Nigerian spirit and ‘can-do- attitude’ must be rekindled by all to prevail on the President to immediately and without further delay, accede to the demand by the PDP and other well-meaning Nigerians to convene a special session of the National Council of State to find a lasting solution since the President has, in his own admission, come to his wit’s end,” the PDP spokesman declared.
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