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From Scholastica Onyeka, Makurdi
A native doctor, Mohammed Ismail Tiganya Omatoko, who prepared charms worth N2,000 to prevent kidnappers and armed robbers from being caught, has been arrested by operatives of the Benue State police command.
Omatoko, who could not prevent his own arrest, hails from Kogi State. He was arrested alongside eight other suspected armed robbers and kidnappers, who were all his clients, in Otukpo Local Government Area of Benue State.
During his parade alongside the others, the native doctor confessed and narrated how he prepared charms and native protection for criminals.
Omatoko, in police custody, told our correspondent that he was arrested on Otukpa Street in Otukpo LGA.
He said he had left his village in Kogi State to come to Benue so he could find something useful to do to help himself and his family. But on getting to Benue, of all the honest jobs and trades, he went into the native doctor business, where he said he had attended to many clients.
During questioning, Omatoko named one Ojo Ajebi and Simoni Nnaji, both kidnappers and armed robbers, saying he usually prepared charms for them to protect their body from bullets.
He said, for his efforts, they paid him N2,000 for the charms and when they came from their operations, they returned with cash or gifts to say thank you.
Speaking further, he also confessed to aiding criminal elements who had been terrorizing Zone C, Benue South, as he has been in the business of making charms and providing protection for criminals in the area in the last one year.
The native doctor was paraded alongside the materials for the juju, which included a tin of milk, water melon, tablet, a bottle containing some liquid suspected to be local gin, a cow’s horn, wasted bullet shells, some cowries and padlock, among other items, concealed with threads and red ribbons.
While explaining the process, Omatoko said: “After preparing the charms, I usually rub the concoctions on their bodies and this will protect them from bullets.”
The native doctor, who said he regrets his actions and repents of them all, pleaded that, if given a second chance, he would engage in honest living.
Meanwhile, some of the kidnappers paraded alongside the native doctor have confessed how they shared N1 million ransom collected from a victim.
One of the kidnappers, Nuhu Bangas, a resident of Otukpo, said: “I was arrested for kidnapping and the only person I kidnapped was in April last year.
“We collected a ransom of N1 million, which I split and gave Hamza (still on the run) N300,000. I also gave Hamza N400,000 to give Usman Saleh and Baba, which is N150,000 for Baba and N250,000 for Saleh and N300,000 for me.”
Also speaking, Usman Saleh, who also resides in Otukpo, said Mr. Bangas Nuhu, in company with Hamza, had kidnapped a person that faithful day. After they kidnapped him, Saleh, a herdsman, said he had just returned from the bush when Mr. Bangas called him on phone and told him to wait for them along the road that they were coming to meet him.
“When they came, they brought the victim and told me and Baba to stay with the victim till they returned. So, we moved into the bush, Otobi forest (along Otukpo-Otobi-Utonkon road) with him and stayed there for three days.
“After three days, they came and took him away. They told me they had collected the money (ransom). Later, they sent Hamza who came and gave me N30,000 and N30,000 for Baba.”
Saleh, who denied ever kidnapping anyone in the past, agreed that he had been involved in cattle rustling in the area, an act that has been responsible for angering the herdsmen and making them to carry out attacks on innocent Benue citizens.
“Yes, we stole seven cows from our uncle’s herds in Otukpo. We also stole our uncle’s motorcycle. We were not involved in the kidnapping. It was Bangas and his friends who did the job. We took cows to the bush and were just returning when they approached us,” Saleh said.
One of the gang, Mohammed Danjuma, also from Otukpo LGA, said: “I was sitting opposite my house when they came to apprehended me. They caught me with a pistol. I have no license for the pistol but I use it for my protection.”
He said he was arrested after the police intercepted his call with his colleague where he was making arrangements to sell the pistol to Nuhu. He denied being involved in gun-running business, saying: “He told me he needed it but I didn’t ask him what he needed it for.”
Danjuma said he bought the gun from a friend during the 2015 elections at the rate of N50,000 and never used it for anything since then.
“I just kept it for protection,” he insisted, saying he was a businessman. “I buy clothes and sell online.”
Meanwhile, the police public relations officer, Catherine Anene, expressed happiness that the command, under the leadership of CP Wale Abass, has recorded achievements in the fight against criminal elements in the state.
Towards the end of last year, there was an upsurge in kidnap cases in Zone C, Benue South senatorial district. Anene recalled that the situation led to the kidnap of the Commissioner for Housing and Urban Development, Mr. Anthony Ogbu.
In a bid to nip the situation in the bud, the commissioner of police, Wale Abass, deployed a special tactical team called Operation Zenda for covert operations in the area.
Anene said: “We had six cases of kidnapping within this area of the zone in one month and that prompted a special deployment.
“These operations yielded results and so many person have been arrested in connection with the kidnap cases that we witnessed in the area.
“One of them prepares charms for them, which gives them confidence to go to the field and kidnap, believing they were safe with the charms. He has also been arrested and he confessed to the crime.”
The police image-maker, who noted that investigations were ongoing, expressed confidence that the command, led by CP Abass, would bring the desired peace to Zone C soon.
“What the police require from the people of Zone C is to give us maximum cooperation. We cannot work without information. We expect that members of these communities would cooperate with us, give our men the required information to pick up these hoodlums that are giving us unrest in these areas,” she said.
