That the Kogi State High Court judge, Justice Samuel
Obayomi, kidnapped by gunmen on May 25, has been freed is no longer news, but
the motive behind the abduction has continued to raised dust. While some people
believe that the saga is one of the abductions that have became a
regular feature of the state in recent times, others think it
has community and duty connection.
The kidnapping of Obayomi of Ebogogo High Court in Adavi
Local Government Area of Kogi State was so fast and professionally done.
He was attacked while going to office around 8: 45 am. The
gunmen shot his orderly, Cpl. Usman Musa, dead on the spot. The
driver, Mr Ajayi Kolawole, who gave insight to the incident, said the
gunmen, who did not wear masks but wore dark glasses and numbering about three,
stopped the car in front of Executive Guest Villa, GRA, Okene.
Kolawole said, “The gunmen ordered the judge, the orderly
and me to be face down. We complied but the hoodlums perhaps saw
the armed orderly as a threat and opened fire on him, killing him on the spot.”
The judge was recuperating from a motor accident that
left him hospitalised for three months and only resumed work a week before the
kidnapping.
LAND AND CHEFTAINCY AFFAIRS
Those who link the kidnapping to a community dispute said
the kidnapping may have been a result of a land dispute between the judge’s
kinsmen in Iluke and their neighbours in Ahara.
A source said Iluke and Ahara had been at logger
heads over a land beside Okebukun area of Iluke. He said Ahara had
accused Obayomi of being the defender of the Iluke as the
encouraged his kinsmen to seek legal solution to the dispute. The source
said: “These people (Ahara) have been laying claim to a potion of land
very close to Okebukun Street in Iluke. Their land does not enter into Iluke.
They have being going about saying that our victory at the lower court over the
land was manipulated by Justice Obayomi who influenced his colleague to give us
victory. Even when they have appeaedl the case, they keep saying they will deal
with him. I won’t be surprised if the kidnapping saga is connected to the
community threat.”
Another school of thought say for close to ten years, some
people in Adavi Local Government have been displeased about the way
Obayomi dispensed judgment at the Ebogogo High Court.
The judge is know for being a fearless judge who delivered
judgment without considering whose ox is gored.
A family source said he handled a particular chieftaincy
case some years back in which all efforts to stop him from delivering judgment
was rebuffed by him. Obayomi was said to have stopped a particular family from
laying claim to a chieftaincy title. The source said the family members
of those whom the judgment was against vowed openly at the court premises to
deal with him.
But will they wait for close to ten years before carrying
out their vengeance?
N150m RANSOM
Obayomi’s abductors stunned the people of the state
when they demanded N150 million ransom to effect his release. The kidnappers
were said to have contacted his family on the third day of abduction to
demanding the ransom, promising to call back in two hours to tell the family
how and when to deliver the money.
STRIKE
While the judge was still at the kidnappers den, the Nigeria
Bar Association, NBA, and the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria, JUSUN, Kogi
State chapter down tools to protest the kidnapping.
The bodies, in separate statements in
Lokoja, protested what they termed “gagging” of justice.
The NBA announced the withdrawing of their services
from the court across the state through a statement jointly signed by the
chairmen of the four branches in Kogi, Amechi Obiechina, Chief Tunji
Ologbonjo, Ibrahim Isiaka and J. Akubo . The quartet represent Okene, Kabba,
Idah and Lokoja branches of the NBA respectively.
JUSUN, in its own statement issued at the end of
an emergency State Executive Council (SEC) meeting, and signed by its
chairman, Daniel Adinoyi and secretary, Aminu, condemned the spate of
kidnapping Kogi, saying similar event occurred in 2013 when Justice Moses
Gwatana of the High Court, Ihima was attacked and shot at by unknown gunmen.
At a point, the kidnappers were said to have remained
incommunicado with the family, or the Chief Judge of the state, Justice Nasir
Ajanah, who was involved in the efforts to secure his release.
An unconfirmed report said the Chief Judge established
contact with the kidnappers as the family negotiator, but on hearing his local
language, the kidnappers switched off the phone and became incommunicado.
N5 MLLION BOUNTY
Governor Wada Idris came into the matter when he offered N5
million cash reward to anyone who volunteered information that could lead to
the arrest of the kidnappers.
Kogi State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Adeyemi Samuel
Ogujemilusi also said the Inspector General of Police, IG, Solomon Arase,
had deployed 350 police officers to the state to assist the effort to
combat kidnappers.
FREEDOM AFTER 34 DAYS
It was not until Saturday, June 27, that Obayomi could
breath the air of freedom. By then, he has spent 34 days in his abductors
custody.
The state Commissioner for Police, Ogunjemilusi, who
confirmed his release, said the judge was released in the night between
10:00 and 11:30.
He did not say where and how the judge was released or if
any ransom was paid, but disclosed that he had been taken to a safe place even
as he was yet to be released to his family.
The Chief Judge of Kogi State, Ajanah, while confirming
Obayomi’s release, said, “We thank God for that but I cannot give you more
information than you already have.”
An unconfirmed source said N30 million was paid as ransom.
The judge has not fully recovered apparently from the
maltreatment he received in the hands of his abductors. He is said to be on
admission in a private hospital attached to the Government House. He is yet to
be fully reunited with to his family. For now, the family only has limited
access to him at the hospital. Their joy of seeing him has been cut short by
the sickness he developed; a situation that explains why the police could not
hand him over to the family.
Meanwhile, Obayomi has been quoted by a family
source as saying the kidnappers treated him like a leper. The source said the
kidnappers, aside the intimidation and harassment, were throwing food at him
from the door. “He said sometimes the food will spill to the floor and they
will still ask him to eat it”, the source narrated.
In a related development, the judge’s driver, Kolawole, is
still languishing in police custody. Their (police) reason is simply because
they cannot explain the rationale behind the kidnappers killing the
orderly and leaving the driver. The driver’s family, which had thought that the
abducted judge’s freedom will pave the way for his release has
been dashed.
