The sound was deafening, staccato and rapid too. It was strange, invoking fears and trepidation. It was an admixture of deafening sounds from the blasts of dynamites, rocket launchers and Ak 47 assault rifles. Residents had their sleep rudely interrupted, wondering what was happening.
In Rigassa, a dingy, uncharted, crammed suburb about 5 km west of Kaduna State Government House, death lurks on select enemies of some unidentified gunmen, suspected to belong to a rising cell of a militant sect in the area.
In 2008, members of Folarin Coker’s family, a former aide to the Lagos State Governor, Mr. Babatunde Fashola, were thrown into disarray when his little daughter was kidnapped and flown to Ghana by a man who was apparently employed into the Coker’s home as a driver.
The spate of violent crimes and the recklessness with which criminals unleash terror on hapless residents of Imo state; especially those living in villages and suburbs, is assuming a frightening dimension. The state government and by extension, the police command seem helpless as these faceless terrorists of the state are effortlessly milking their victims and smiling to the banks.
Save for the Biafra/Nigeria civil war of 1967-1970 during which all kinds of unimaginable weapons including bombs and explosives were used, bombs-whether suicide or improvised were alien to Nigeria. This accounted largely for the reason why Nigerians expressed shock and dismay over the resort to the wanton use of bombs and explosives by some aggrieved militants in the northern states of the federation to destroy lives and property.
‘How they tricked bureau de change operator to hotel for the kill’…Over 50,000 dollars
35-year-old Ali Sani, a bureau de change operator in Apapa area of Lagos, least envisaged the tragedy that loomed ahead, penultimate Monday, as he set for his office. Like every other bureau de change operator, Ali called on passers-by to patronise him, in his hard currency changing business.
Twice in two months, Ali Hudu Kurma, a 25-year-old deaf and dumb, narrowly escaped from suspected kidnappers. On each occasion, he had boarded a commercial vehicle from Piako to Kano, where he had lived over the last one decade and met some strange faces that made him uncomfortable and, on the two occasions, he choose to force his way out to safety.
The pain of the villagers was written all over them as they rummaged through the remains of their destroyed homes. All they were trying to do was salvage what was still useful.
It all started about four years ago at a football field in the heart of Benin city, the Edo state capital where Lucky Iyamu 23, Kingsley Ofeya 31, ShakaYakubu Oseki 28, Kelvin Omotuemhen 26, Onyeka Joseph 42 and Jude Egumahe 24 met.
If Taiwo Akande had known, he would not have asked his aged mother to travel from Ijero-Ekiti, Ekiti State, to receive medical treatment in Lagos State. The move to cater for his mother in her old age is now being regretted by the entire family as a group of hoodlums recently sent the grand-mother to her grave.
If Sekinat Emiola had known that an extra-marital affair she was having with Asimiyu Ayantayo who lives at Oke Aremo Ibadan could lead to her death, she would have exercised some restraint. She left her four children with a message that after she finished her business at Eleyele, she would have a stop- over in the residence of Asimiyu before she came back home.
These are not the best of times for residents and those passing through the territory known as Imo State. Armed robbery and kidnapping activities have become so frequent that people are now finding it extremely difficult to move about and transact their businesses with ease
