Ikechukwu Daniel, 28, suspected to be a member of a notorious kidnapping
\ngang terrorizing the South Western part of the country, has been arrested
\nby operatives of the Inspector- General of Police Special Intelligence
\nResponse Team, IRT.<\/p>\n
Daniel plotted to kidnap Oil Mogul, Femi Otedola and demand at least
\nN500million in ransom.<\/p>\n
The notorious kidnapper masterminded the April 27, 2016, abduction of
\nSenator Iyabo Anisulowo in Ogun State.\u00a0 \u00a0The 70-year-old senator, who
\nrepresented Ogun West Senatorial District, between 2003 and 2007, was
\nabducted alongside her security guard on her way home from her farm along
\nIgbogilad Road, in Yewa Local Government area of Ogun State.<\/p>\n
Senator Iyabo who was also a former Minister of State for Education, was
\nreleased after 10 days in captivity following pressure by the police on
\nrelatives and friends of members of the kidnap gang who were mainly Fulani
\nnatives.<\/p>\n
Crime Guard gathered during the week that IRT operatives who were acting
\non a directive by the Acting IGP, Ibrahim Idris, arrested one Mohammed
\nBabuga, who provided information that aided the operatives in trailing
\nDaniel, popularly known as \u2018Ike\u2019,\u00a0 to his hideout in Festac Area of Lagos
\nState. He was subsequently apprehended while negotiating a N4m ransom from
\nrelatives of another victim in his gang\u2019s custody.<\/p>\n
Sources at the IRT led by CSP Abba Kyari, disclosed that Daniel is an
\nI-tech expert coaching Fulani kidnappers on the use the ICT in evading
\narrest.<\/p>\n
Daniel, who is a native of Imo State but was born and raised in Kaduna
\nState, told Crime Guard during an interview in Lagos , that he and members
\nof his gang were perfecting plans\u00a0 to abduct billionaire\u00a0 businessman,
\nFemi Otedola, before he was arrested.<\/p>\n
He narrated that they missed him once when he attended a function at
\nIbadan Oyo State, due to heavy presence of security operatives, but they
\ndecided to take a little time and prepare properly for the operation.<\/p>\n
Expert in ransom negotiation During his interview, Daniel confessed that
\nhe joined the kidnap gang in 2014, after he was released from Oyo State
\nPrison.<\/p>\n
He explained that he was arrested in 2012 for hijacking a petroleum tanker
\ntruck on the Lagos-Ibadan express way and during his stay in prison; he
\nmet one Mohammed Babuga, a Fulani who eventually led him into kidnapping.<\/p>\n
He added that he usually negotiated for the gang after the kidnap of their
\nvictims because of his expertise in ensuring that the ransoms are
\ncollected successfully.<\/p>\n
Dainel, further explained that after Senator Iyabo was kidnapped, he was
\nthe one who ensured that the woman\u2019s life was spared as her family refused
\nto pay ransom for her release.<\/p>\n
No reformation in prison His story: \u201cI spent one year in prison and my
\ncase was later struck out from court over want of evidence.<\/p>\n
When I returned, I could not go back to school.\u00a0 \u00a0I was born and bred in
\nKaduna State and I speak Hausa Language fluently.\u00a0 While I was in prison,
\nI made friend with Mohammed who is a Fulani, we were in the same cell.<\/p>\n
After my one year in prison, I realized that prison wasn\u2019t a place for
\nreformation and I that inmates were arranging jobs from the prison.<\/p>\n
Mohammed came out of prison before me, but when I came out, he told me
\nthat he had joined a kidnapping gang.<\/p>\n
Kidnap operations out of prison \u201c<\/p>\n
In 2014, I joined Mohammed\u2019s gang and we kidnapped a man. I don\u2019t know the
\nman\u2019s name and we kept him in a forest in Ilorin. We were paid N5million.
\nThe second job was the kidnap of an Alhaji and\u00a0 I did the negotiation in
\nthat case. We got N15million from the man\u2019s family. I got N2million as my
\nshare; I bought a car with my share.<\/p>\n
The third operation was in Kwara State and we kidnapped a man who
\nidentified himself as Akintola.<\/p>\n
We received N3million as ransom from the family.\u00a0 During the fourth
\noperation, we kidnapped a man and N5million was paid as ransom.<\/p>\n
How I saved Senator Iyabo\u2019s life<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter that operation, my gang members kidnapped Senator Iyabo Anisulowo,
\nbut I wasn\u2019t carried along.<\/p>\n
I was in my house in Festac when I saw the news on the television and I
\ncalled Mohammed to confirm the incident.<\/p>\n
He told me that it was Maman and his\u00a0 \u00a0gang that carried out the job. They
\ntold me that they were expecting to get nothing less N50million.<\/p>\n
But, after the family of the senator refused to pay the money and there
\nwas police raid all over the place as most of Maman\u2019s relatives and
\nfriends were arrested and, there were also police helicopters hovering all
\nover the place, they called me threatening to kill the woman to serve as a
\ndeterrent to other would be victims.<\/p>\n
I begged them for two days because they respect and listen to me.\u00a0 Luckily
\nfor the woman, she was released and they all absconded.<\/p>\n
That single effort I did saved the life of the Senator. If not, the Fulani
\nboys would have hacked her to death.\u201d<\/p>\n
I would have kidnapped Otedola in November Narrating how he and his gang
\nhad planned to kidnap oil magnet, Femi Otedola, Daniel said; \u201cThere was
\nsomeone working with Otedola who brought the kidnapping job to us and the
\nperson told us that he was going to be in Ibadan.<\/p>\n
When we went, we saw that there was heavy security presence around him and
\nI told my gang members that we must wait and plan very well before
\ncarrying out the operation.<\/p>\n
I told them that the first thing I would do to ensure the success of the
\noperation was to do spiritual sacrifice to the gods and ensure that I
\ndefeat them spiritually before going for him.<\/p>\n
You know a man like Otedola, is powerful spiritually.<\/p>\n
Then, the next step was to ensure that we get army, DSS and police
\nuniforms. I realized without impersonation, there was no way I would be
\nable to go close to a man of such statute.<\/p>\n
Our last plan was to ensure that we monitor his movements regularly
\nthrough our contact which is that person close to him and we would strike
\non a day that he has very little security men around me.<\/p>\n
I would have achieved all this by November and if we had succeeded, it was
\ngoing to be my last job as I would have demanded N2billion and I was
\nhopeful he will pay me nothing less than N500 million.\u201d<\/p>\n
I was always ahead of security operatives Daniel also disclosed that he
\nmade sure that he was always two steps ahead of security operatives by
\nensuring that he was acquainted with strategies of the DSS and the police
\nin tackling kidnapping and other violent crimes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a friend who is into hacking and he helped me hack into DSS and
\npolice websites and through that process, I normally monitor their new
\ntracking methods. Before I was arrested, I knew the police were looking
\nfor me but I believed in my knowledge of Nigeria security apparatus.<\/p>\n
But it failed me. \u201c Accomplice, Mohammed speaks When Crime Guard
\nInterviewed his accomplice, Mohammed Babuga, 32, a native of Kebbi State,
\nwho is married with two children ,\u00a0 he confessed that he was first
\narrested in\u00a0 2011\u00a0 when he went for a robbery operation with Maman on the
\nKaduna Road in Kwara State. \u201cI used to take them to the scene and they
\npaid me N156, 000 in three operations.<\/p>\n
During the third operation while taken them back to Ilroin, some vigilante
\nmen arrested us and took us to the police where we were charged to court
\nand I was remanded in Prison. While in Prison, I met Ike, but when I left
\nPrison, I joined a kidnap gang led by Boeyi and Bubah Bube and we
\nkidnapped a Fulani man. We got N4million and I was given N700, 000.<\/p>\n
We did our second job at Rejob, a boundary between Kebbi State and Niger.<\/p>\n
We collected N2million and I got N250, 000. After that operation, I left
\nKebbi and relocated to Oyo State because there were no good roads. Boeyi
\nlater called me and said he wanted to join me and he had gotten an Ak47
\nrifle and one Abubakar, a headsman also had a pump action gun.<\/p>\n
We contributed money and bought a Honda Bullet.<\/p>\n
Boeyi brought a job which was to kidnap a man, but before we went for the
\njob,\u00a0 Ike came and joined us and we did four jobs together before I was
\narrested. \u201c<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ikechukwu Daniel, 28, suspected to be a member of a notorious kidnapping gang terrorizing the South Western part of the country, has been arrested by operatives of the Inspector- General…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52693,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n