Turkish school abduction: Residents, parents want suspect tried in Ogun

Two months after kidnappers of the pupils and staff of the Nigeria Turkish International School, Isheri, Ogun State, were arrested, there is apprehension, especially from concerned residents of the state that the case might be swept under the carpet.

Recall that gunmen stormed the school and bore a hole on the school fence on January 13, 2017, headed for the female hostel, where three pupils, a Turkish teacher, a supervisor, a matron and two intending candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), who worked in the school, were kidnapped.

Residents are worried that the suspects have been taken to Abuja and paraded, preparatory to trial, instead of Ogun State where the crime was committed. Another reason is that there is no update either from the Abuja, Lagos or the Ogun State Police Commands on the case.

Two of the suspects Philip Kakadu (a.k.a General Kakadu, 29) and Romeo Council (a.k.a Raw, 40) were apprehended in Warri, Delta State, by operatives of Intelligence Response Team (IRT), led by ACP Abba Kyari.

On February 23, another key member of the group, Peter Ajanapo, 32, (a.k.a. General Osari) was arrested. The suspect, a native of Afiesere town, Ughelli North Local Government Area of Delta, was arrested by IRT operatives in Ughelli.

Mr. Abdulrasheed Rufai, a teacher, who frowned at the unusual silence on the matter said if the case is not pursued to a logical conclusion with the suspects and their sponsors made to face the law, educational institutions in the area will no longer feel safe, adding that majority of parents who had their children in boarding schools have been withdrawing them for security reasons.

“The police must give us regular update on those they have arrested so far. It’s only when they are planning to cover up issues that they transfer suspects from the area the crime to another area. We need to know what is happening,” he said.

A parent, Mrs. Idiat Okunola, who is not only furious on the development, indicted the police for encouraging crime in the country. She warned that if the police try to cover up by not bringing the culprits to Ogun State, parents would be forced to stage a protest that might further dent their image.

But the image-maker of Ogun State Police Command, Abimbola Oyeyemi told The Guardian that the police have other plans, assuring that when the team that made the arrest is through with investigations the suspects would be returned to the state to face trial.

“The IG has the right to send his Intelligence Response Team to unravel crime and he has the right to carry the suspects away. Police is one and we need to collaborate. What matters most is that the suspects have been arrested, it does not matter whether it is the force headquarters that made the arrest or not,” he said.

Oyeyemi assured that the suspects would be transferred back to the state to face prosecution, immediately the force headquarters is through with its investigations, adding that no leaf would be left unturned.