* Emir, Baptist school student regain freedom
Mary Nnah in Lagos and John Shiklam in Kaduna
A former senator, who represented the Kaduna Central Senatorial District in the National Assembly, Senator Shehu Sani, yesterday decried the unabating banditry in Kaduna State, resulting in people living in fear.
Sani, while fielding questions on ‘The Morning Show,’ a breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Channel, the broadcast arm of THISDAY Newspapers, said insecurity had become so pervasive in the state as only two out of the 23 local governments in the state are safe at the moment.
Sani spoke against the backdrop of the recent abduction of over 100 pupils of Bethel Baptist High School, Maraban Rido, Chikun Local Government Area of Kaduna State as well as the kidnapping of the Emir of Kajuru, Alhaji Alhassan Adamu, along with 10 members of his household.
However, the emir, who was abducted by bandits in the early hours of Sunday, has regained freedom.
Also, one of the abducted pupils of Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi, Kaduna, has been released by their abductors.
Sani warned that if no serious action is taken immediately to contain the killings and kidnappings in Kaduna State, one day, people would wake up without a state.
He said: “We have reached a point in this state today where the only local governments that are safe are two local governments in Kaduna State – the Kaduna North, where I am talking from right now, and Kaduna South which is a metropolitan local government. All the other local governments which are in the outskirts are all besieged by bandits. So, we have never seen this kind of trouble and it appears that the abductions are even increasing by the day.”
Sani who identified four entry points to Kaduna– the one from Lagos, the one to Abuja, the one to Southern Kaduna, and the one from Zaria–added that all four were now vulnerable to bandits’ attacks.
He said that the bandits had devised a way of kidnapping on the road to Southern Kaduna, which is the road where Bethel Baptist High School and the palace of the emir are located.
“They push their cattle to the road and when you have decided to stop; they would simply come out of the bush and kidnap you into the forest.
“Anything after 7 pm, many people from the outskirts move out to the central to return in the morning. This is the situation we are in right now,” he added.
Sani was one of those that expressed empathy and made calls to make a case for the rescue of the pupils and many others, who were kidnaped in the state.
He took it a step further last weekend when he visited the school where the distraught parents of the abducted pupils had converged to pray for the release of their children.
“I have given them my words telling them that even though I am not the senator now, but being that this is my state, and then once my constituency, I have a moral reason to continue to identify with them and to do everything possible to see that we secure the release of these abducted children,” he stated.
According to him, abduction has become a daily tragedy in Kaduna State as even many cases are unreported.
He added: “Those ones that are reported are either mass abduction or abduction of prominent people.”
He frowned upon the fact that Kaduna is a state that has the largest establishments of military and security agencies in the country.
Sani said it was unimaginable that with all the presence of all the security outfits, the state seemed not to be secured.
“I am also deeply pained by the fact that it has reached a point that even those elected into offices don’t even visit the victims of this banditry,” he said.
He warned that if the trend continues, even those within the city would not be safe because the bandits have moved away from local roads where they kidnap people to raid houses and pick their targets.
“Nowadays they even send letters to communities and they visit such communities either a day before or a day after their deadline,” he added.
Meanwhile, the Emir of Kajuru who was abducted by bandits in the early hours of Sunday has been freed.
Also, one of the pupils of Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi, Kaduna, has been released by the bandits.
The spokesman of the Kaduna State Police Command, Mohammad Jalige, confirmed the release of the emir in a telephone interview with THISDAY in Kaduna yesterday.
Jalige said: “The chief is back and he is currently in his palace as I speak with you.”.
He, however, said he was not in a position to say whether the 10 family members of the emir were also released as he was yet to receive a comprehensive report from the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) in Kajuru.
“I am not in a position to say whether other family members of the emir that were abducted were released too because we are yet to receive a comprehensive report from our DPO who is there.
“I will give you details as soon as we received comprehensive reports from the DPO”, Jalige said.
THISDAY, however, gathered that the bandits did not release the monarch’s family members.
Similarly one of the pupils of the Bethel Baptist High School, Damishi, Kaduna, has been released following ill health.
Chairman of Kaduna State Chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), Rev. Joseph Hayab, confirmed the release in a telephone interview in Kaduna yesterday.
He said the kidnappers called to say that they had released the boy who was becoming “weak”.
“The kidnappers themselves called us today. I think they kidnapped some people somewhere and one of the persons was sick.
“So they now called us and said that one of the boys is weak and they will release him with that sick person to come back.
“The boy is yet to be with us but any moment from now he is going to be with us
“So we have one of the boys out. We are praying that this will lead to more and more other children coming back,” Hayab said.
He said negotiations were still going on for the release of the students, adding that the foodstuffs demanded by the bandits had been delivered to them.
“So with the release of one of the students, now we have 120 students with the bandits”, Hayab said.
The students were abducted on July 5, when bandits invaded the school.
