Long walk to freedom for the kidnapped ‘Igbonla six’

Last Friday marked a turning point for the families of the six Igbonla Model College’s students captured by kidnapers over two months ago in Lagos. And for the students themselves, it was a long walk to an anticipated freedom after about 64 days in captivity.

Their sin was that they were students of Igbonla Model College, Epe, Lagos. Sadly, their abduction was the second time kidnappers would swoop on the school like a thief in the night and successfully whisked away their captives, leaving security personnel in the Centre of Excellence dazed for two months.

The boys- Peter Jonah, Isiaq Rahmon, Adebayo George, Judah Agbausi, Pelumi Philips and Farouq Yusuf, abducted on May 24, 2017 with the kidnappers initially demanding N100 million ransom were eventually released by the kidnappers in Ondo State.

Operatives of the Nigeria Police were said to have picked up the boys at Aboto Creek in Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo at about 3:30pm on Friday. Recalled that operatives of the Inspector General of Police’ (IGP) Intelligence Response Team (IRT) on May 31, 2017 arrested three suspected members of the gang that kidnapped the students. In spite of this, other members of the gang had held on to the boys, insisting on payment of ransom.

Speaking with journalists after the rescue of the boys, Fatai Owoseni, commissioner of Police (CP), Lagos State, could not confirm if the victims were rescue during a shootout with the kidnappers or that they were picked up where their captors abandoned them.

Owoseni however, said that from the very day the pupils were kidnapped till their safe release, about 20 of those involved in the kidnapping had been killed in the sustained efforts by the police to free the boys. According to him, about eight policemen were injured since the kidnap of the students.

He also could not confirm if any compensation was paid and how much was involved. The affected families had pulled resources together to realise N10 million which the kidnappers dubbed inadequate. Additional N15 million was said to have paid bringing the ransom to N25 million which still did not persuade the kidnappers. They were said to have demanded additional N1.5 million ‘transport fare’ to ferry the boys to where they dump them for their families.

There was no official confirmation that all the demands of the kidnappers were met, but unofficial sources said a mouth-watering sum was paid to get the boys out of captivity as governments and security personnel seemingly became helpless and resorted to appeal while the saga lasted.

Governor of Ondo State, Rotimi Akeredolu, said a lot of efforts were made by the deputy governors of Delta and Ondo States towards the release of the boys. He emphasised the need to increase patrols around and along the creeks.

He said the state was motivated by a call to him by the Acting President Yemi Osibanjo to work with others, including Lagos to rescue the boys.

Deputy Governor, Idiat Oluranti-Adebule of Lagos State, said the boys will be debriefed and taken through some medical, psychological and mental tests. She assured that before the resumption from the long vacation, the state government will further beef up security around schools in the state.

Fatai Owoseni, the commissioner of police in Lagos, said only one person had been arrested but not the kidnapper but one who tried to take advantage o the situation to swindle the parents of the rescued boys and would be prosecuted.

Owoseni, while parading one Yusuf Ogundare, Baale of Shangisha (now removed and facing prosecution) for faking his kidnap, two weeks ago, at Lagos House, Ikeja, had joined the state Commissioner for Justice and Attorney General, Adeniji Kazeem, to appeal to the kidnappers of the Igbonla  school boys to release unconditionally.

The trauma of the families of the students was heightened last week as their classmates rounded off the school session and graduated to another class. The parents had lamented the absence of their children not only from the school, but also from homes, for more than two months.

The ‘Free six Igbonla boys,’ a group which was championing the cause for the release of the boys, had also lamented that they were hoping against hope that the boys would be rescued safe and alive.

The group in their unrelenting campaign said “Seen or spoken to your children today? Know where your kids are? The parents of Peter Jonah, Isiaq Rahmon, Adebayo George, Judah Agbausi, Pelumi Philips and Farouq Yusuf wish they were like you. They have not seen or heard from their children! Not because they are in boarding school but because they were kidnapped from the school where their parents sent them to learn.

“We call on the Lagos State Government, the Nigerian Police and everyone responsible for bringing these kids back to work harder to ensure their release!

One of the parents of the now released school the boys had appealed to the kidnapers to spare him the agony of losing his wife. The man said his wife has been in and out of the hospital since the abduction of her son. According to him, the woman has been very affected because it was their only child that was kidnapped.

“I cannot count the number of times I have rushed her to the hospital. She has been very traumatised and her situation is worsened by the continuous detention of our only child. I do not know what to do again. I am just begging the kidnappers to free these children and spare my family this agony.”

The safe return of the boys is not only a welcome development, but a relief to their families, their mates in Igbonla Model, Epe, and the larger Nigerian society which had been praying and hoping that their case does go the way of the Chibok school girls, in Borno State, some of whom are still in captivity more than two after they abducted by the notorious Boko Haram insurgents.

 

JOSHUA BASSEY