Youths demand full investigation into Umunneochi kidnapping

Task police with arrest of Prelate’s kidnappers

(Our correspondents)

Youth leaders in Umunneochi Local Government Area of Abia State have tasked the police command in the state to track and prosecute the Fulani gunmen who kidnapped the Prelate of Methodist Church of Nigeria, His Eminence, Dr SKC Uche.

They also called on the military authorities in the state launch separate investigation into the activities of the soldiers manning checkpoints in the area to fish out the bad eggs among them for penal measures.

The youths warned that the worsening mistrust between the local people and the soldiers that mount checkpoints in the area might lead to total defeat of the objectives of installing the checkpoints.

They described the people of Umunneochi as peaceful and accommodating but warning that it would be a mistake to misinterpret the hospitality of the people for weakness.

One of the youth leaders who spoke with our correspondents on phone also charged the police to also investigate the revelations made by the prelate in which he indicted the men of the Nigerian Army that allegedly provide cover for Fulani bandits in the area.

The youth leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity in deference to Governor Okezie Ikpeazu who has also declared interest in the matter, said it would take minimum effort for operators with instruments of the state to unravel and dismantle the kidnapping syndicate that has laid siege on the villages.

He hinted that management of the over N130 million extorted from indigenes of Umunneochi in three separate kidnap incidents across one weekend could provide the needed signals to track those behind the attacks.

In explaining the high level of coordination in the kidnapping incidents in the boundary areas which also hosts the cattle market located in Lokpanta town in the local government area, our source said kidnapping of indigenous people has developed a full industry chain that involve money laundry for ransom, protection and security cover for ransom seekers, cordoning off some sections of the farmlands by the military for suspected hosting of kidnap victims, and supply of military grade weapons for herdsmen.

The Oracle Today reports that the youths of the area had last week trooped out in their numbers to demand dismantling of the military checkpoints in the area for alleged complicity in the burgeoning commercial kidnapping of indigenous people by Fulani herdsmen lurking in the farmlands.

They accused soldiers manning a security station at Lomara Junction of sealing off the Isuochi-Ihube road, forbidding local people and granting exclusive access to herdsmen. They said the area has now become a secure zone for Fulani kidnappers.

In a video that have gone viral, the youths had trooped to the checkpoint to require the soldiers to unseal the road and restore access to farmlands along the Ibi River.

The Methodist Prelate, who was held by the kidnappers for nearly two days before N100 million ransom was delivered in cash, has in a post traumatic interview graphically described the area where he was held to be the area sealed off by the soldiers.

He also said that the kidnappers and their soldiers stationed in the area are all exclusively Fulani in origin. The church leader also inferred strong collaboration between the kidnappers and the soldiers that mount decoy checkpoint in the area.

He made it clear that the soldiers manning the checkpoint were complicit in the kidnapping and were aware that he and other clerics were held there by the kidnappers.

Prelate Uche also narrated that the kidnapers operated with military grade assault rifles, daggers and swords. He said some of the bandits speak Igbo with mother tongue fluency and had told him that they use the ransom money to amass more weapons for land grabbing assault on the communities. He said the Fulani kidnappers did not disclose their source of weapon supply even though they.  

During the peaceful protest by the local youths, a leader of the police Rapid Response Squad (RRS) had addressed the youths and openly acknowledged that the area has been overrun by Fulani kidnappers. He also pointed out that the nearby cattle market forms that operating base for the kidnapping ring.

He made it clear that the military personnel stationed in the area “are not helping us.”

Following the spate of national outcry over allegations of their complicity in the kidnapping in Abia State, the soldiers have since become belligerent on the local community; patrolling the markets and public squares and shooting live bullets into the air. Their latest display of aggression has spread panic and caused some schools in the area to shut down.

Local people are also getting increasingly angry and agitated. Community leaders have in response also stepped up their call for urgent intervention, demanding relocation of the cattle market and military checkpoints from the area.

In an incident response visit to the area, Governor Okezie Ikpeazu lamented the upsurge in the kidnapping cases in Abia North, restating the resolve his administration to provide adequate security for the people.

The governor made it clear that the law prohibiting open grazing in the state remains in force and wondered by Fulani herdsmen in the state have continued to challenge the law.

In demanding palpable action on the matter, the Umunneochi youths are now calling on the police to launch full scale investigation into the operations of the kidnap syndicate pillaging the communities. The proffered an action plan that would trace the movement of ransom cash and telecommunication records to identify the real people driving the syndicate.

On the role of the military in the area, the youths also called on the military commands in the state to launch a parallel investigation into the activities of patrol teams manning checkpoints in the area.

They promised that local community people are willing to provide credible information that would help unravel the security crisis in the area.

In counting the pains of the people, our source said the impunity granted Fulani herdsmen by military personnel in the area have made it difficult for local farmers to feel safe while at work. He pointed at recurring incidents of farm devastation by grazers, violent rape of women, brazen armed robbery and kidnapping as well as constant harassment by the soldiers.

The youth leader said documented ransom payments in the past two years have breached N500 million, including ransom payments by individuals, churches, local government and many other groups whose members and relations have been kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen.

International advisory firm providing security information services to corporate bodies in the country, SBM intelligence, declared in a report that Fulani herdsmen operating in different parts of Nigeria have collected over $18 million or about N10 billion in ransoms.

The Oracle Today reports that the bulk of the ransom taking comes from the North West and North Central zones of the country, but the take from Southeast zone of the country especially from Abia State is beginning to ramp up quickly.