In response to the security concerns in Ikorodu – within Igbogbo-Baiyeku and Ijede LCDA; the Chairmen; Builder Olusesan Daini of Igbogbo-Baiyeku LCDA and Hon. Motunrayo Gbadebo-Alogba of Ijede LCDA issued a joint statement 9th of February, addressing the security concerns in their respective areas.
In their statement, the Chairmen reassured residents that the situation is under control and being effectively addressed by the State and Local Councils, along with all security agencies. They emphasized their commitment to ensuring the safety and well-being of the residents within their Local Council Development Areas.
Reported Timeline: Kidnapping, Ransom, Robbery, Killings
The security situation in and around Igbe community in Igbogbo/Bayeku and Ijede Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) of Ikorodu Division, Lagos State, Southwest, Nigeria, has raised fears. The security challenge in Ikorodu didn’t start today.
2016
In 2016, parents of the three students of Babington Junior Seminary School, Ikorodu, Lagos, who were abducted on February 25, 2016, paid N5.6m ransom to the kidnappers.
The father of one of the victims, Venerable Olusa Ayo, revealed in his statement to the police, that the kidnappers initially demanded N200m for the release of the girls.
He said the abductors, however, after agreeing to collect N15m, made him merry-go-round to ensure he was not being followed by security agents.
He said, “On the morning of March 1, at about 11am, I received a call through which my daughter informed me about the abduction. She said three students, including herself were abducted at gunpoint in the midst of sporadic shooting. She further advised me to contact the school authorities.
“The line was switched off thereafter until around 11pm on the same day. The same line called again, with my daughter requesting confirmation if the school management had been contacted. I told her to hand over the phone to her abductors. One of the abductors informed me that I should know what to do. He, thereafter, demanded a ransom of N200m before the girls could be set free.”
Ayo said while pleading with the abductor, the line was switched off.
He explained that the kidnappers flashed his number, and he called back the next day and continued with the negotiation.
The cleric said the kidnappers shifted grounds from N150m to N100m, adding that they asked him to pay N30m for the release of only his child.
Ayo said, “But I said I wanted all the three girls. I also explained that it had been difficult for the school to raise the ransom they were demanding. I offered N1m each on behalf of the other parents and N2m on behalf of the school.
“This was declined with constant threat to kill them if we failed to meet their demand. They finally decided to collect N15m which they claimed would be the final offer.”
He said after speaking with the kidnappers that the parents had raised an additional N600, 000 to the N5m they had, the kidnappers agreed to take it.
One of them was said to have given the cleric instructions on how to package the money and get it ready in a Ghana-must-go bag.
The cleric said, “At about 11pm on Saturday, March 5, 2016, I was contacted to bring the money with stern warning not to involve the security agencies. That I should come alone, and later they said I could come with a driver.
“I was asked to drive to Ijebu-Ode, but I was intermittently called to know my movements. I was also directed to put on the inner lights of the car, while the hazard pointers should be on.
“By the time I got to Imota, I was asked to proceed until I got to Agbone where I was asked to turn back to Ikorodu. I was later asked to turn back to Ijebu-Ode again until I got to Imota.
“Finally, I was directed again to go back to Ikorodu and watch out for a broken down vehicle after the filling station. When I confirmed that I had sighted the car, I was directed to drop the money in front of the car. This was at about 11.40pm.”
He said the kidnappers confirmed the receipt of the money to him on the phone and promised to release the children.
According to him, he returned to the school around 12pm on that Saturday and informed the security agencies of what had happened.
He said the girls were released the following morning and brought back to the school.
“The girls gave me N15, 000 which was given to them by the kidnappers for their transport. My daughter also delivered their message that I should pray that God would forgive them.
“The police then requested statements from me and the girls. I also took my daughter to the hospital for treatment,” he added. One of the abducted girls, Olaniyan said the kidnappers fed them with garri, among others, while they were in captivity, adding that they were also blind-folded.
She said, “The three of us were taken away through a hole they dug in the school, which led to a bush path.
“They put us in a canoe. I saw 11 men in the canoe and thy paddled the canoe for almost 30 minutes. We arrived at the spot at exactly 9pm. Getting there, they cut some wood and erect a temporary tent for us.
“When we woke up the following morning, they cut a blue cloth, which they used to blindfold our eyes. Later, Deborah (Akinayo) complained that the blindfold was affecting her eyes. So, they removed the blindfold from our eyes.
“They were carrying long guns and they called themselves names like Forest, Shadow, Senior man, Trachtion.”
She said the kidnappers began asking them for their parents’ phone numbers and if they had money in their bank accounts.
She said the abductors on the second day brought a sack of garri, cartons of bottle water, juice, sardines and other drinks.
“They asked seven men to stay with us, but others were going and coming back.
“On Saturday, an old man came, whom they were calling, ‘Daddy’. When the man saw us, he shouted at them and they shouted back. They had a brief discussion and after staying for about 30 minutes, he received a phone call and they started threatening to kill us if our parents involved the police.
“On March 6, at about 5.30am, I was woken up and we were taken in a canoe by two armed members of the group.”
She said around 8am, they were dropped off on the main road at Igbokuta where they approached a motorcyclist, who then took them to a police station.
She said the police from there took them to the school.
This kidnappers were later caught. Chief Magistrate, I.O. Adelaja handled the case.
2023
In April 2023, operatives of the Lagos Police Command rescued two kidnapped victims, names withheld, from the Isiwu Forest near Imota in the Ikorodu area of the state.
According to the police, they were rescued in the wee hours of Wednesday at Isiwu Forest, near Imota after six gunmen abducted them on their farm on March 26.
The gunmen were said to have come in a boat and taken them to the kidnappers’ makeshift den in the forest.
Acting on information that the kidnappers were set to collect ransom from the owner of the farm at 11:30p.m. operatives ambushed two of the kidnappers.
The suspects were said to have engaged the police in a gun duel. While one of the suspects was gravely wounded, the other was said to have escaped.
The victims, who worked as a manager and a driver on the farm, told journalists that the attackers demanded details of the farm’s strong room where the owner kept the money.
One of them said, “I told them I knew nothing about it, as I was new on the farm; I only started working there in December.
“They took us into the forest and beat us thoroughly. The one they beat more was the driver because he told them he didn’t have any money in his account. They were using cutlasses to flog us.”
According to the manager, he transferred N55,000 from his account to them. “Then, they called the owner of the farm and demanded N30m. He told them he didn’t have it. They later reduced the money to N10m but he told them all he could get was N3m.
“We spent 10 days in the forest. They fed us soaked garri (cassava flakes) and bushmeat. It was a wooden house built inside the forest. We were lying on the floor and were warned not to look them in the face. They blindfolded us the day after we got there.
“So, on the ninth day in the forest, they sent two of the kidnappers to go and collect the ransom from the agreed spot.”
While in the bush, the manager said they heard gunshots. “The remaining four kidnappees fled in their boat. They told us to find our way but since it was night, we didn’t know which way to go.”
SP Benjamin Hundeyin, said the fatally injured kidnapper was taken to the hospital but was confirmed dead.
He said the operatives recovered a locally made rifle, four live cartridges and three mobile phones, two of which belong to the kidnappers.
He said efforts were underway to arrest the fleeing suspects. “Our preparation paid off. There was a gun duel when one of the kidnappers was hit. He was injured, and was rushed to the hospital where he was declared dead.”
The lgbe community recorded two kidnaping incidents in the last quarter of 2023, and heavy ransome had to be paid before the kidnapped victims were released. The two victims of the ugly incident, Alhaji Tijani Mukaila Bayo and Alhaja Tijani, were kidnapped at Afa, a community between Oreyo and Igbe Laara in Igbogbo, last December, and were whisked away in a boat through the Afa river. They were, however, released about a week later.
Before the couple’s kidnapping, a senior official with the Lagos State Government, was also kidnapped in November 2023, at Igbe Ogunro community which is within the same area.
In November, a member of staff of the Lagos State Government, simply identified as Jagaban was abducted by suspected kidnappers.
The Lagos State staff member was reportedly around 9pm on Monday kidnapped in front of his house at Progressive Estate Igbe-Oloja.
The victim, according to reports, is a senior staff of the Revenue Department at Government House, Alausa.
Benjamin Hundeyin confirmed the abduction of one person to the Nigerian Tribune.
He however claimed that the police in the state did not have the identity of the victim as at the time of filing this report.
Residents of the area stated that the victim was taken away in a boat through the swamp in the area.
The Nigerian Tribune however gathered that the abductors of the Lagos State worker Wednesday contacted the family and demanded for N20 million ( twenty million naira).
According to a resident of the area who pleaded anonymity, “He usually parked his vehicle some metres away from his house to call his family to come and open the gate for him.”
The resident added; “That Monday, he parked his vehicle as usual and was waiting for his family to come and open the gate for him, when the gunmen showed up and whisked him away.”
Hundeyin, a Superintendent of Police while speaking with the Nigerian Tribune said “It is true I heard about a case of kidnapping in the area”.
He however stressed; “I don’t know the identity of the victim yet but we have begun investigation and investigation is progressing.
In December, the daredevil kidnappers abducted a couple in the Alfa area of Igbogbo in the Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State.
It was gathered that the couple were allegedly stopped by gunmen who shot sporadically in the air to scare other road users and residents on Thursday night, 7th December.
According to a resident, Adisa Tobias who lives in the community, “The community was thrown into panic when gunshots rented the air continuously. When the area became a bit calm, we went to investigate what had happened. We only discovered a child in the vehicle while the parents had been taken away. When we tried to ask the child about its parents, it pointed a hand to the bush, saying some people took them away”.
Explaining further, Adisa said the gunmen escaped to the swamp with the couple before the police arrived at the scene and began combing the wood and swamp if they could find the couple.
However, another resident who spoke on the condition of anonymity when Vanguard visited the community, “said he was not sure if the kidnappers made away with the couple through the swamp.
He added that the kidnappers might have come with a vehicle parked at the other end of the road, where they quickly moved the couple in and drove off immediately.
He added that if they had been in the woods, the police, probably, would have captured them, noting it was not long after the incident when the police arrived at the scene.
However, a Celestial Church of Christ member, who has a bathing pool by the side of the water and some residents of Igbe, were arrested by the police.
2024
On Wednesday, February 7th, two residents were kidnapped.
The women were said to have been kidnapped around 10am by unknown gunmen who shot sporadically into the air to scare residents away as they whisked their victims into the swamp.
Another account said that four men armed with Ak47, came in through the swamp and kidnap a person working on his farm.
A man was seen in the video sent to our reporter, and which is now being circulated on some social media platforms, calling our residents on top of his voice to rally round and chase the kidnappers.
He was heard saying that the kidnappers were still in the swamp shooting, before he resigned to fate.
On 9th February, the Lagos State Police Command has said it was investigating a gunmen attack on Wednesday 7th that killed two persons, identified as Suru Arije, 59, and Ilufoye Azeez, 30.
Its gathered that the gunmen also abducted a yet-to-be-identified woman during the incident that happened around 11am in the Alagemo community of Igbelaara, off Ijede road in Ikorodu.
According to police sources, four vigilantes were injured in the course of the attack.
“It happened at Alagemo which is part of Igbelaara, Ijede, in Ikorodu.” A resident who spoke on condition of anonymity said.
Confirming the incident on Thursday, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, told our correspondent that the incident took place around 11am in the area.
“It happened around 11am. Two persons died, four others were injured, and one woman was kidnapped,” the PPRO said in a telephone interview. He added that the injured persons were responding to treatment at the clinic.
Saying the police were on top of the matter, Hundeyin added, “We have commenced an investigation into the incident. We are on it.”
However, some of the residents of the area, while speaking about the incident, said that the Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA taskforce team arrived at the scene around 11am.
One Akinyomide Ayotunde, a resident of Igbe community, issuing an alert on the WhatsApp platform, said:
“Incidence of kidnapping has just been reported at Alagemo. 4 armed men with Ak47 came in through the swamp and kidnapped a person working on his farm, those of us near the swamp should be more vigilant, they have come back in full force. Spread the news”.
Meanwhile, residents have been lamenting the incessant kidnapping in the Igbe community.
A resident of Igbe community lamented;
“God, what is happening now in this community? Yes, it time for everybody to stand to fight for himself now, because security men cannot have access to this place now. It will be hard for them ooo ,except local security. We need to be on standby day and night”, he said.
One said:
“This is becoming frequent. The community at large needs to act fast before it gets out of hands”.
While another charged the government to deploy land and air security men to rescue the victims.
“At this juncture, our community should inform Lagos government to use Helicopter to locate these guys. We really need government’s presence on this matter. My opinion”.
Just recently, a lecturer of the Lagos State University of Science and Technology (LASUSTECH), formerly Lagos State Polytechnic (LASPOTECH) was robbed in broad daylight at the 3rd Gate after he entered a bus going home which later turned out to be filled with thieves. The lecturer lost ” laptop, phone, notes and other vitals.
Attempts to speak with the Chairman, Igbogbo/Bayeku LCDA, Builder Sesan Daini on the development proved abortive.
But in a joint statement, Friday 9th, the Igbogbo-Baiyeku and Ijede LCDA Chairmen; Builder Olusesan Daini and Hon. Motunrayo Gbadebo-Alogba, respectively addressed the security concerns in their respective areas.
The Chairmen said they have established collaborative efforts with the State Government, the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police Force, the Local Joint Task Force, and other security agencies.
They assure residents that they are on top of the situation while leveraging support of the State Government and security agencies to implement robust security measures. They are also urging residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious activities promptly.
The Chairmen said, “Our communities are our top priority, and we are determined to foster an environment where residents feel safe and secure. We understand the concerns of our residents, and we want to assure everyone that we are on top of the situation. Collaboration is key, and we are leveraging the support of the state government and security agencies to implement robust security measures.”
They further added, “Community involvement in maintaining a secure environment is very important. Hence, we appeal to residents to be vigilant and report any suspicious activities promptly. We urge our community members to speak out if they notice any unusual movements or activities within their neighborhoods. Your cooperation is crucial.”
