All is not well in Lafia as kidnappings rise
Within 10 months, kidnappers have targeted high profile personalities including top government officials, royals, and the clergy amongst others. But journalists, peasants, the average Joe and ordinary Jane have also not been spared in the rising violent crimes in the Nasarawa State capital, as our correspondent reports.
Lafia literally means peace in the Hausa language. Peace was what the first settlers in the present day Nasarawa State capital hoped to find when they fled internecine wars from their ancestral homes to make camp in the place they named Lafia.
However, recent actions of daredevil, gun-wielding criminals is upsetting the apple cart and turning the peace in Lafia on its head.
An upsurge in kidnappings, armed robbery and other violent crimes is tampering with the dream of the founding fathers of the Nasawara State capital.
Only last weekend, on November 22, the APC chairman in Nasarawa, Phillip Tatari Shekwo was attacked at home by heavily armed men who took him away. Not long after, his body, with bullet wounds, was found a few metres from his house.
It is not the first of such attacks in the capital. In February, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works, Alhaji Jibril Giza was kidnapped by armed men in Shatu, a surburb of Lafia.
A member of the family, Usman Shagari, said, since the abduction of the permanent secretary that Saturday morning by gunmen who arrived the house on motorcycles, all calls put to his cell phone were rejected.
For three days, there was uncertainty and apprehension in the family until Alhaji Jibril Giza was released. It was not known if a ransom was paid for his release.
While Giza’s story had a happy ending, with even a job promotion after his release (he is now the Permanent Secretary, Government House, Lafia.) others are not so lucky.
While government officials have had a taste of kidnappings, the royalties were not left out when a second-class traditional ruler in Lafia was kidnapped.
Alhaji Abdullahi Magaji, the Aron Akye of Ugah, was in his palace at Ugah Town, the state capital on a Thursday evening in May when armed men forced their way in and abducted him.
A witness said about two dozen men stormed the palace brandishing AK 47 riffles. They scaled the fence, fired many shots into the air, abducted the chief and fled on motorcycles.
By Saturday, a family source said, the kidnappers made contact with the family of the chief, demanding a N50million ransom. They even allowed the chief to speak to his family. The fee was negotiated down to 15 million.
A titleholder in the palace, who prefers anonymity, said a huge ransom was paid before the kidnappers released their ruler.
He said that the chief was found around Kiguna area of Lafia, some 24 kilometers outside his domain. He was quite weak when he was found. The palace never disclosed how much was paid for the chief ’s safe return but there was relief that he returned at all.
On the 27th day of that same month of May, the Chairman of the Christian
Association of Nigeria, (CAN), Nasarawa State Chapter, Bishop Joseph Masin, was kidnapped by armed men who stormed his Bukan Sidi residence at midnight. After some days, he was set free.
Pastor Sam Joseph, the bishop’s son, said, “The Bishop was released around 11 pm on Saturday and arrived home around 2 am this Sunday morning.”
He did not disclose if a ransom was paid. But a source said the kidnappers had earlier demanded a 20 million naira ransom a day after the abduction. Reports indicate that the family sold the clergy’s car to raise money for his return.
However, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the former governor of the state, has since donated a Peugeot 407 to the Bishop.
But if one thought the kidnappings were targeted at the privileged, an incident in October killed that narrative when seven armed men raided a private clinic and abducted three persons.
Before that time, it was business as usual at the Kunwarke Clinic and Maternity in Kan-Tsakuuwa, near the Federal University, Lafia. The sick were being nursed back to health while their friends and relatives visited. When the kidnappers struck, they took away one staff and two persons who were visiting patients. One victim later escaped.
The Director of the hospital, who was a former deputy speaker of the Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Hon. Elisha Agwadu, said the kidnappers came 30 minutes after he had left the hospital at about 8 pm that night.
An eyewitness said the kidnappers, who were well armed, arrived the hospital and shot into the air sporadically. They then asked everyone to lie face down as they made away with their victims.
Agwadu said his hospital was targeted.
“The kidnappers contacted me and told me that this was the 26th time they have come after me without getting me. ‘All we are demanding from you now, if you don’t want your staff and others to be killed, is N20m,” he said.
“They put a call through to me again at about 12.20 pm demanding for a ransom of N20m and I have told them to give me up to 6pm. They have asked me not to contact the police for anything,” he said.
Agwadu said he paid some money to secure the release of the victims who have since been released.
The recent high profile killing of Phillip Tatari Shekwo has however raised alarm bells in the state and many hope that the authorities will take concrete measures to curtail the raising criminality in the state.