Date: 2016-05-26

From early Friday morning, which dovetailed to Saturday evening, immediate family and members of All Progressives Congress in Kwara State were in pensive mood over the whereabouts of the state chairman and secretary of the party, Ishola Balogun-Fulani and Bode Adekanye, who were seized and held at gunpoint by suspected kidnappers until their safe release late Saturday. Ahmed 'Lateef writes on the myth that characterized the ill-fated kidnap.

When on May 14, traditional chiefs under the banner of Ilorin Emirate Forum of Magajis and Alanguas converged on the palace of Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari, to assess the collateral damage done to life and valuable property resulting from the frequent Fulani herdsmen and farmers clashes, it was a foreboding of lurking trouble.

As it was conceived, the assemblage tagged "security summit", was meant to dissect the extent of criminality and jungle justice usually precipitated by actions from both sides of farmers and cattle breeders.

The summit principally focused on the attack on farmlands and cattle in the wake of clash between the two opposing camps, embedded in it was criminal tendencies especially with growing suspicion that suspected Fulani herders no longer limit their act of criminality to destruction on the farms but also rape, kidnap, maim and shed blood of the innocent.

In the nation with one of its fault lines hinged on mutual distrust, the forum of Ilorin traditional chiefs converged to offer practical solution in nipping the incessant attack in the bud.

The gathering, which did not envisage the onslaught of suspected Fulani herdsmen to be visited on two Kwarans in few days later, came to fore as a result reported cases of wanton destructions and tale of woes and sorrow leave behind after the attack.

In recent times, survivors of tragic scenes in some communities in Benue, Enugu and Ekiti States are on ground to re-enact the detailed accounts of the pogrom that nearly sent them to their early graves.

Since then, many Nigerians have continuously raised alarm on the monumental and sometime irreparable damages done to unsuspecting people by the agents of death caliberated as Fulani herders.

In the kidnap category of the blood thirsty herdsmen, some senior citizens and school pupils fell victim and were held captive for some period of time before being left off the hook.

Among victims of the abduction by suspected Fulani herdsmen were a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Chief Olu Falae and other members of the elite class, who miraculously got released to recount their ordeals in the den of captors.

As if there was no punitive action in place to curb the excesses of the attackers, two senior citizens including chairman and secretary of Kwara State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, Ishola Balogun-Fulani and Bode Adekanye got the shock of their life when they fell into the waiting arms of kidnappers said to be of Fulani extraction.

From early Friday morning to late Saturday evening, members, loyalists and supporters of the ruling party in the state were apprehensive. The almost 35 hours nasty experience of being held captive shook the state political structure to its foundation.

It was a horrible experience they would never wish to encounter in their life any more.

The duo, on official assignment, bade the nation's capital, Abuja farewell in the early hours of Friday with the hope of spending few hours on the road to arrive in Ilorin after accomplishing their missions in the nation's city.

The duo were seized by the heavily armed suspected Fulani abductors on Friday morning around Osara, a sleepy village in Kogi State, on their way to Ilorin from Abuja.

Devoid of any premonition of trouble awaiting them as they hit the road, the gunmen had laid ambush for them in a hide and seek game like attack by the roadside of the Expressway.

Between Osara, a town on the road and Lokoja, Kogi State capital, the kidnappers laid siege, caught the Kwara APC chairman, secretary and another innocent traveler and ordered them to proceed to the thick forest where they were held hostage for almost 35 hours.

The development led to a severe anxiety within the political family of the ruling party in the state until they got reprieve from their captors and subsequently set free.

However, emotion ran high in Ilorin, Kwara State capital on Sunday afternoon following the arrival of Balogun-Fulani and Adekanye to the city after their safe release from kidnappers' den in Kogi State.

Balogun Fulani, who relived his ordeal in the hideout of abductors when he visited the palace of Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Ibrahim Sulu -Gambari, along with Adekanye and some party chieftains, said the experience in the den was nasty.

He said no Fulani herders should be allowed to bear arms again as they constitute threat to the peace and security of the nation.

Balogun Fulani urged the government to tighten security on highways and forests in the bid to curb the excesses of the herdsmen.

"No food, no water, nothing at all. That is just the experience. They told us that though they are Fulani, they have no other business except armed robbery and kidnapping. They said I must give them N40million and my secretary should give them N30million. And if we failed to do that they are going to waste us. So, we had to call all our people before we were allowed to go yesterday (Saturday) by 6:30pm.

"What the government can do is to beef up security on all our roads and forestry. And they should not allow any Fulani person to use gun either in rearing his cows or using gun to enter into towns and villages. They should try to curb the excesses of Fulani using gun", Balogun Fulani said.

Also speaking, state APC Secretary, Bode Adekanye disclosed that it took them eight hours and thirty minutes trek non-stop before they were allowed to take a rest in a thick forest.

He said the kidnappers threatened to shoot them if they refused to pay the ransom placed on them.

Recounting the ordeal, Adekanye said, "Immediately we were being accosted by these young Fulani guys, we thought they were SARS. As we were getting closer, we noticed some people were crawling on the road. We made u-turn immediately, and about four of them came out of the bush again and fired us. We packed. They requested for money, we doled out everything on us. It was then that we prostrated, and they asked us to stand up and ordered us to be running and enter the bush.

"They were pursuing us from the back with speed. We ran for about 30 minutes nonstop inside the bush with foot. At a particular time, they relaxed. They talked in their language and asked us to move again. We were now trekking. At a point, they said we are kidnappers. They said you people are the one killing Fulani, we said no.

"The third guy kidnapped along with us was a coincidence, we don't know him from anywhere. They wanted to shoot him when they said he is an igbo. He told them he is yoruba. That was where we started walking from 7:30am till around 4pm (on Friday) before they allowed us to stop at a station. We were walking in thick forest. There was no sign of trekking road, bike or motor. And we didn't on our way crossed any human being.

"They declared this is our office and we are kidnappers. At the end of the day, they cooked rice and roasted it with ordinary palm oil. They gave us to eat if we care inside one dirty plastic. Again, we asked for water thinking may be they have pure water. They went somewhere and fetched muddy water in golden colour for us to drink. That is what they themselves were drinking anyway.

"But they smoked and snuffed cocaine constantly that one can see. Later in the evening, they started asking us to identify ourselves. They placed N30million on my head, N40million on the head of my chairman and the other guy N30million. That was how they started threatening us. They only allowed our relation to talk. But it was my son that was relating with them".

The Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Sulu-Gambari challenged the government to beef up security on the roads to check the devious activities of men of the underworld, which he noted had become an age long decimal on federal highway in Kogi State.

Recalling an abduction case some years ago when he was returning from a South East state in company of some traditional rulers on the Expressway in Kogi State, the monarch said it was high time the government put safety measure on the roads across the country.

The monarch, who described the safe return of the APC chieftains as heart warming, prayed to Almighty Allah to continue to save them.