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The Kidnapping and Release of Pa Simeon N. Soludo: Did President Yar’Adua and IGP Onovo fail major challenge?
New York---The news of the release of Pa Simeon N. Soludo, the father of former governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) as well as Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate for Anambra State Governor, Professor Charles Chukwuma Soludo was a relief news for Nigerians especially all Anambra indigenes at home and all over the globe. However, as details of the ordeal of the 78-years old man, including news that huge ransom amount was paid for his release begins to emerge; many questions are now being raised on the role of Nigeria police force, the military and intelligent agencies in the saga. Pa Soludo was reportedly abducted by a five man gang of gun wielding kidnappers, who stormed his family house in Isuofia in Aguata Local Government Area of Anambra State in a black Mercedes Benz car at about 7.30 p.m. on Tuesday, 27 October, 2009. Ransom Demand Shortly after the old man was abducted, the kidnappers, according to news reports demanded N5 billion Naira to cover political expenses arising from the PDP primaries before he could be released. Few days later the kidnappers lowered the ransom they demanded to N500 million Naira. That amount was eventually dropped to N300 million and lastly to N200 million, according to reports. Soludo Political Opponents are Primary Suspects Meanwhile, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) strongman in Anambra State, Chief Chris Uba (a member of board of trustee and financier) continued to organize, coordinate and give resistance to Soludo candidacy, as well as issue press statements condemning his party selection of Prof. Soludo and vowing to terminate his candidacy. Anambra State Police Commissioner Philemon Ibrahim Leha then reportedly issued a press statement pointing accusing fingers on Chief Chris Uba as the mastermind in the kidnapping of the 78-year old man, and reportedly invited him for questioning. “Just yesterday (Wednesday), some group of politicians held a meeting at Emmaus House in Awka where scathing remarks were made on Chukwuma Soludo. Just after the meeting, Simeon Soludo was kidnapped and it is left for people to speculate who did it, and for what reasons,” Leha told reporters in Awka, capital of Anambra State. The Police Commissioner was not yet done in issuing sensational press statements; he went further to state that Professor Chukwuma Soludo has not made formal report to police that his father was kidnapped, inferring that police has not been formally informed about the case/incident. But in swift reaction to Police Commissioner’s press statement, Chief Chris Uba issued his own press statement, reported by Nigerian Compass and other news media; “Soludo is a visitor in the state; he is a visitor in the party. But when he came, we started the primaries, and in the delegates election, he got only five votes. When he got these few votes, Soludo himself went and brought a court order and told me, Chief Chris Uba, that he brought that court order. Then, he later came to my house to beg me for us to discuss. I told him to go first and vacate that court order. He told me the court order cannot be vacated”. “Then, we went to Abuja to do the congress election. After that, the NWC (National Working Committee) rose and slotted his name from behind. I will show you his number, he has been calling me, begging me to soft-pedal and I said I will not soft-pedal, that he must leave because he came in through the backyard and he must leave through the backyard”. “Soludo is not a member of our party. Soludo has not attended any meeting anywhere and now, after our rally yesterday, he even went to the Commissioner of Police and told him that he should stop us from the rally. But the police told us to change the rally to a stakeholders’ meeting. I spoke to the commissioner myself and the police were at that rally and I went to the rally and came back. The next news I heard was that they kidnapped his father”. “Soludo cannot blackmail me to stop. I will continue to fight the cause I believe in. I’m in court with him. Tomorrow in the Federal High Court Abuja, I will continue to fight his candidature till I get him out”. “He can’t try this in this party, he has spoilt all the banks in Nigeria and he wants to come and spoil the party (PDP), it can’t happen”. “So, he knows the location of his father, let him go and bring back his father. You know Soludo is not at peace with his people, he is fighting with his people, he created an autonomous community. “My own is the party. I am the leader of the party, I am a BOT member in this party. I am fighting illegality because our President believes in the rule of law and we must follow due process. “The police commissioner never invited me for one day and it is unfair for him to say so. But tell him I am in my house in Abuja, if he wants to see me, if he invites me, I will answer. No blackmail can stop me, I must fight on. No amount of sympathy will stop me. Soludo knows where his father is, he should get him out. He came in illegally and we will throw him out legally. “However, the police in Nigeria know where to see me, if they want me, I am available at anytime to answer them. I have never been to any police station”; above were statements credited to Chief Chris Uba. Also Soludo family pooh-poohed Police Commissioner’s statement that police had not been informed of the kidnapping of their father; Pastor Ugochukwu Soludo, reportedly one of the sons of Pa Soludo, the kidnap victim responded and stated among other things that, "Our eldest brother, Emmanuel, made a formal report the same day our father was kidnapped at the Ekwulobia Police Station in Aguata Local Government Area. The following morning, which was Wednesday, the police visited our home where Emmanuel and everybody that needed to be interviewed were interviewed and it was done in writing by the police team. The issue that a formal report has not been made to the police is not true". Chief Chris Uba reportedly failed to honor the invitation and the Police Commissioner invited him again together with about 23 other governorship aspirants under the PDP, including Prof. Chukwuma Soludo to his office. Top Security and Defense officials’ Attention:
Police Inspector-General, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo’s Visit to Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff, Air-Force Chief Marshal Paul Dike In the heat of this, Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo visited Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike in his office and the two top law enforcement and national defense chiefs discussed the kidnapping. Onovo who spoke during a courtesy visit to the Chief of Defense Staff, Air Chief Marshal Paul Dike, said: “just yesterday night, a terrible blow was dealt on our effort at fighting kidnapping which has recorded huge success of late, with the abduction of Soludo’s father. We know it is politically- motivated, but we are going to ensure he is freed unhurt. Politicians should note that it is not a do-or-die affair. Politics is a game and it should be seen as such. You win some, you lose some. It should not be taken to this dangerous level of kidnapping. We will find him and free him”. "Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, while reacting to the development said the kidnap is politically- motivated just as Anambra State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Philip Leha, accused a political godfather in the state, Chief Chris Uba, as the brain behind the kidnap. The Inspector-General warned politicians to stop seeing the issue of political office as a matter of win-at-all-cost syndrome", reported Vanguard, a Nigerian newspaper. Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Parry Osayande Publicly Chastised Anambra State Commissioner of Police While Anambra State Police Commissioner on one side and Chief Chris Uba and Anambra PDP chieftains on the other side were trading words over the kidnapping, the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Parry Osayande faulted the Commissioner of Police's statements that the reported kidnap of the father of Prof. Soludo was politically motivated. “Instead of plunging into investigating the veracity of the kidnap, the CP (Commissioner of Police) rushed to the media to libel Chris Uba as being the brain box of the kidnap. The first thing every police officer is taught is never to believe all complainant says. We have lost count of instances where people have murdered their loved ones and have rushed to the police pointing accusing fingers at some other people". “Even the CP ought to have known from the little time he has spent in Anambra that no kidnap is ever successful without the backing of an insider. He has several case files of kidnappings, and to the best of my knowledge, he has yet to crack any. We at PSC are scandalized that the CP turned himself into the complainant, IPO, prosecutor and judge. He even went overboard to advise politicians to seek office only through the ballot box. He was either too silly or simply hallucinated not to work on the lead that it may all have been stage-managed by the Soludo camp to whip up public opinion that we hear may be ebbing", said the Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Parry Osayande. Other kidnapping masterminded by crooked politicians in Anambra State, Nigeria In Anambra State of Nigeria, kidnapping and ransom demand to settle political expense is not new. In July 10, 2003, Anambra State Governor Dr. Chris Ngige was reportedly abducted/kidnapped from his office, taken to a local hotel and locked in the hotel bathroom by senior police officers led by Assistant Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Raphael Ige following Ngige’s failure to pay Chief Chris Uba billions of Naira for political expenses. There was also news report that one Chief Goddy Osele former Chairman of Aguata Local Government Area was also abducted/kidnapped from his office in similar manner and circumstances in 2002. Some historians and crime reporters in Anambra State pointed out that 3 high-profile abductions and kidnapping in the state have been linked with one person. The first was in 2002 and the victim was Chief Engr. Goddy Osele, the elected chairman of Aguata Local Government. The second was the following year, July 10 2003 and the victim was Anambra State Governor, Dr. Chris Ngige. The third was October 27, 2009 and the victim was Pa Simeon Soludo, father of Professor Chukwuma Soludo, PDP candidate for Anambra State Governorship. Historian and crime reporters added that in all the cases, the police know the suspects and the mastermind and still there had been no arrest and no prosecution. Heightened Public Expectations since coming of President Yar’Adua and IGP Onovo Following these high-profile officials' statements, many had expected Nigerian military, especially, the Army and Air-force in combination with police law enforcement headed by Mr. Onovo who is reputed to be a first-grade-crack-detective to use Pa Soludo's case to signal a new dawn on law enforcement tactics and capability in the nation. Since this case had gotten the attention of Nigerian Inspector-General of Police, Mr. Ogbonna Onovo, Nigerian Chief of Defense Staff, Air-force Chief Marshal Paul Dike and Chairman of the Police Service Commission, Parry Osayande, many local and international observers had expected these top officials to come up with strategy to catch the kidnappers and deal a serious blow to kidnapping in Nigeria. However, news reports that despite the involvement of the nation's top security and defense chiefs, the family had to pay huge amount of ransom money before the kidnappers would give them a location to go and pick up their father is raising a lot of questions regarding law enforcement agency in Nigeria. "If ransom was paid before the release of the old man and the kidnappers and their sponsors were not arrested, then, this will be a very low mark for 'first-class- crack-detective' Ogbonnaya Onovo. The message from this will be ‘business as usual’; the message from Mr. Onovo may be interpreted to mean: ‘don't expect anything different from me’. Serious police officer (Onovo) should not allow these crooks, no matter how highly-placed to toy with his job", said international security consultant. “Onovo should have used this case to tell the world that ‘a brand new Sheriff is in town’ and therefore, ‘rule of the game has changed’ ”, regretted indigene that wish to remain anonymous. |
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