Now that terrorism has come to our door step…
The Ese Oruru episode
The purported abduction to Kano in August last year of 14-year-old Ese Oruru, a teenage Bayelsan girl by one Inusa, a tricycle operator was nothing short of a living drama straight from the movies.
While the nation screamed ‘abduction’, ‘forceful conversion/marriage’ and ‘rape’, Ese, now with her parents said she went with Inusa of her free will. But the word ‘free’ there brings to mind the problems mankind faces with his maker when they believe they are ‘free’ moral agents.
Like the last presidential election that built up so much tension it was thought that Nigeria will explode if PDP loses, Ese’s refusal to enter into the police van except Inusa goes with her revealed that there was more to the tale than was thought.
The script of the drama had it that the child, daughter of a food vendor, was allegedly abducted from her mother’s restaurant in Opolo, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa state, by a one Inusa, alias ‘Yellow’, a tricycle operator who was a regular customer to the restaurant.
The child, Ese Rita Oruru was helping her mother, Mrs. Rose Oruru to sell while her mum dashed to the market. On her return, Rita was nowhere to be found.
That was the beginning of the drama that took her parents many trips of anguish since August of 2015 until now that the dust appears set to settle. Thanks to the Civil Society Groups, NGOs and the social media as well as the print and electronic media.
Ese Oruru, the abducted teenager who has been reunited with her family, may seem to have enjoyed her stay with her alleged abductor while in Kano as reports had it that she initially refused leaving the state.
The 14-year-old had engaged the team of policemen and officials of the Kano Shari’ah Commission who were to convey her to Abuja, in an argument of sort.
Ese, as revealed in the video clip obtained by Premium Times, said she would not enter the police van without her alleged abductor, Yunusa Yellow.
She was dressed in white hijab and posed in an adamant manner with her arms akimbo, saying she will not go without her Inusa.”
Speaking directly with a man suspected to be her alleged abductor, the Christian-turned-Muslim teenager said, “You knew you wanted to do this to me that was why you asked us to come here.”
It however took the combined effort of officials to convince Ese to enter the vehicle.
Ese had been reported saying last Monday that she was not interested in reuniting with her family.
It was also alleged that the girl said she eloped with her lover to Kano in order to convert to Islam.
The Bayelsa born child had said, “My name is Aisha Chuwas. I came here to be a Muslim and I will stay here,” she said in an audio recording involving a police interrogator in Kano.
A human rights lawyer, Huwaila Mohammed, who was given access to the girl at the Zonal Police Headquarters in Kano, said upon interrogation, she understood the girl was never forced to convert to Islam.
“I was there to protect her rights,” Ms. Mohammed said. “When I approached her initially, she refused to talk to me. Later she opened up to me.
“She is very defiant. She told me she was born in February 1999. I personally wanted her to reunite with her family, but surprisingly she asked me to tell her mother that she will never return to Bayelsa.
“The police should ensure that she is protected and returned to her family. She is still not matured enough to take such a weighty decision without parental consent.”
Ms. Mohammed, who also spoke with Miss Oruru’s purported lover, Yunusa Yellow, said upon interrogation, she established that he is 18-year-old man “not anywhere above 20”.
“I was surprised when I saw a very small boy. He is just 18-year old. I was enraged thinking that it was an old man involved in the saga.
“From the way I see it, they eloped not because of religion but love,” she said.
That medical test showed Ese is five months pregnant, that is to be expected, having been with Inusa as ‘wife’ for over six months. The lover boy is with the police now and the law will take its constitutional course.
Parents beware of familiar strangers
A lawyer and Human Project activist, Mr. Dan Okposio, who was part of the pressure group that brought the drama to a crescendo, faulted Mrs. Rose Oruru and her husband, Charles, even the unsuspecting neighbourhood who permitted Inusa to mix freely with the natives and caused familiarity to breed without caution.
“I speak as a psychologist and a practitioner of law and I can tell you that children, like female adults are vulnerable to closeness and a little fondness. Once those two factors are established, anything can take place; it even happens between houseboys and their masters’ daughters and with madams and their drivers, dry cleaners, gardeners or shop keepers, etc. If you hear or read of an able bodied woman marrying a disabled or physically challenged person, check closely and you will find familiarity had prepared the ground and fondness sealed it. It is purely a human genetic factor.
“From the things Ese was reported to have said after authorities waded in and separated her from the man, it was clear that the child genuinely believed in her heart that the man, Inusa truly had good intention for her. Even the strange environment, religion, language and tattered house they kept her did nothing to change her conviction.”
The good news is that Ese is free at last; the veil is removed and though she has a five months old pregnancy to remind her of her youthful exorbitance for life, at least her ‘abduction’ had a better ending than the Chibok girls.
Enter the real abduction
Just as light was beginning to shine at the end of Ese’s tunnel and her family and Bayelsans can now draw in a long breath of relief, a hitherto undeclared terrorist group struck: this time, in Ikorodu town last Monday night, just four days ago.
Unfolding report has it that unspecified number of gunmen invaded the Babington Macaulay Junior Seminary, an exclusive co-educational secondary school in the area owned and run by the Anglican Church of Nigeria, on Monday evening.
The invaders kidnapped three female students of the school before escaping into the night through the swamp. The incident occurred between 8 to 8.45pm when the students were holding their evening classes.
The abducted girls were ferried from the area through the swamps and taken to unknown destination. The road is said to lead to Gberigbe, Mowo and Igbukuta communities in Ijede area of Ikorodu.
Members of the local vigilante group, Oyabo, as well as the school security operatives’ frantic efforts to trace the girls’ movement all night yielded no results.
It was learnt that the topography of the terrain was difficult being a swampy area. But the security men reportedly stumbled on the gunmen’s hideouts where they discovered assorted bottles of dry gin, cigarette butts, bathroom slippers and others.
Our correspondent gathered that Monday’s abduction came two weeks after a similar attempt was made on male students of the Government Senior Model School, Owutu in the same Ikorodu but was stoutly resisted and thwarted by the school security and authorities.
The shocking incident became more worrisome because of the target, and the location: why a seminary?
The Daily Times correspondent who arrived at dawn of the abduction reported that Agunfoye-Lugbusi community and environs, until that night of the attack was a sleeping, serene community in Adamo, Ikorodu North Local Council Development Area (LCDA) of Lagos State.
Enter the police
From the beginning of time, Agunfoye-Lugbusi had never seen or received the presence of security men, the army and police in their ranks and file as is being witnessed since the dawn heralding Tuesday the 1st day of March, 2016.
Besides the massive number of uniformed men that trooped the area, panic-stricken parents and their family members whose wards are in the boarding school came in frenzy, fear and anxiety insisting they must see their children.
At about 8 am of Tuesday, there was hardly space to stand still. The school authorities had a hard time trying to prevent many of the parents from entering the school. The authorities were forced to allow some of them in.
Academic activities had to be put on hold amidst the chaos; students were restricted to their hostels while some parents insist they will take their wards home. The classrooms were under lock and key.
Some of the parents openly expressed dissatisfaction with the state of security in the school.
“Security, did you say?” hissed a woman in Yoruba, apparently one of the upset parents: “Ogun ti wo ilu” (war has entered this town). “We can no longer have peace of mind; we can no longer sleep with our eyes closed. This school and this place will never be the same again. I want to see my children with my eyes and take them home until we know what exactly is going to happen,” she said.
When the principal, Venerable Olaoluwa Adeyemi would come around, he had no word for anyone; not for the parents, not for journalists.
Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone 2, Bala Hassan and the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni visited the school. Their visit prompted more curious residents and the crowd rose, forcing policemen to fire shots into the air to disperse the crowd.
Lagos State Commissioner of Police explained to the AIG that the abductors whose number could not be ascertained immediately might have gained access by scaling the school’s short fence. He disputed the claims that the kidnappers broke into the school through a broken wall.
He assured that his men were on the trail of the kidnappers and would soon rescue the students free. He said the police had established contact with the abductors through the telephone.
A squad of Mobile Police Squadron 22 has been deployed to the area to commence ‘combing’ of the area.
Gov. Ambode speaks
Governor Ambode condemned the recent abduction of three female students – Three girls were kidnapped from their boarding school in Ikorodu area – Police are already making efforts to ensure the safe return of the abducted girls.
Ambode expressed confidence in the capacity of the police to lead the rescue mission. “We have not been silent on this unfortunate development. In a delicate security matter of this nature where young innocent people are involved and management of information demands utmost circumspect, we were convinced that swift and coordinated reaction, guided by intelligence reports on the part of the Police, was a better and more sensitive approach to take, rather than a sensational, panic-stricken reaction.
“I have had ceaseless briefing with them since the incident happened and God helping us, we shall spare no effort in securing the safe release of the girls and continue to secure the school and indeed every part of Lagos,” the Governor said.
“We believe this is a case of evil fighting back. But Lagos will neither succumb to threats of lawlessness nor bow to terror. Our resolve is very clear; we will assist the Police and other security agencies in dealing decisively with this one unfortunate case and prevent future reoccurrence. We will deploy the resources at our disposal to safeguard every life and property within our care,” he said.
Governor Ambode said the State Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni and the Assistant Inspector General of Police for the Lagos/Ogun Command are leading the entire coordinated effort involving every military apparatus. He commended the students of the school for boldly resisting the abduction of their mates and also the response of the school management in the wake of the incident.
One of the parents who had ascertained that her two daughters were not among the abducted students expressed sadness at the plight of parents, students and the school authorities in general.
“The abduction is very sad; it even happened on the day the JSS.1 admission forms were to be sold to parents for the coming session. This is nothing short of sabotage; this school has never witnessed this kind of thing since it started in 1996.”
The AIG and the Police Commissioner later held a closed door meeting with the parents and the school authorities to assure them that the children would be released soon.
Briefing journalists after the meeting, Hassan lamented the unfortunate incident and gave assurance that the perpetrators would be nabbed soon.
Stakeholders and residents of the area similarly registered their displeasure and shock over the incident. They called on the school management to beef up security in the school to enhance the confidence of students, staff and other stakeholders.
Upon his return to Lagos, our correspondent felt the mind of a prominent clergyman, chaplain and head of St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Aboru, the Right Reverend Father Msgr. Livinus Ukah. Why would a terrorist gang pick on the Church here in the Southwest, more so a junior seminary?
“It is a dangerous, developing phenomenon,” he said over the telephone. “When we continue to maintain a conspiracy of silence, the evil will continue to grow.”
So what can the Church do in this regard?
“It could be that the Church doesn’t know and does not have the wherewithal or the method of facing the situation. The Church depends on the police and relevant agencies to talk about what they are hearing; what are the police men saying?,” he asked.
Also speaking on the development, the fiery Human Development Project lawyer and teacher, Dan Okposio said the development is a wakeup call for the all security organs in the Southwest.
“This brazen abduction right here in the Southwest portends that the communities and cities in Southern Nigeria are no more secured and guarded than the extremely bombed and destroyed communities and cities in the distressed areas of the North,” he said.
How does he see the preparedness of the Police Force to combat this new development?
“That they have been spending official and unofficial hours, stalking petty thieves, garage touts and traffic offenders as well as chasing okada riders and confiscating their motorcycles among other idle exercises are very much in evidence.
“So now that the chips are down, and what was assumed was so far away is now discovered to be living with us; especially now they have announced their presence in two quick operations, the holiday years of the security agencies are clearly over.” Okposio concluded.
The police, however, said they suspect the kidnappers to be fuel vandals who wanted to resort to kidnapping for ransom. This may not be unfounded as news reaching our desk from good source has it that contact has been established with the abductors and the sum of N20 million is being demanded as ransom for the release of each of the three girls.
But as you read this, a combined team of mobile policemen from Mopol 20 and 22, as well as conventional police were combing the bushes to see if they could pick up trail to locate the kidnappers.
Police Public Relations Officer, Dolapo Badmos said the force is doing everything to rescue the girls. “We are doing all our best to rescue the girls and bring the abductors to book. We want to assure parents to be calm as we will bring back the girls.”
