The residents of oil village of Sabon Tasha in Kaduna state have continued to lament over the coordinated kidnap of the inhabitants by the Local vigilante for ransom.
One of the residents of the community who spoke to West Africa Reporters explained how the Local vigilantes kidnap some resident, take them to the armed bandits in the bush and collect huge amount of money as ransom.
Carrying out the act, the vigilante members, kidnap residents, deliver them to armed bandits who hold them captive and contact their family members for ransom.
The vigilantes led by an Igbo man popularly known as Odogu, from south eastern part of Nigeria, are paid monthly by the residents to gaud the area, through monthly contributions.
Unknown to the community residents, Mr. Odogu and eight others of his vigilante members had masterminded so many kidnaps incident in the area and have been giving out vital information that has led to the successful kidnap of so many persons in the community by the armed Bandits, which some got killed on the process of securing their freedom.
On Sunday night October 16th 2021 there was a kidnap incident in the compound of the Manger cooperative filing station just before the refinery junction. On the process of trying to kidnap him and the entire family one of his sons was shot dead for recognizing Mr. Odogu who was among the Kidnappers that carried out the operation.
After the incidents, Mr. Odogwu went to a hotel located in the community and was drinking and smoking with his vigilante group. Out of drunkenness Odogu started shooting sporadically in the air unfortunately there is an Army base close to the community and the military men in the base wanted to find out who has an Ak 47 is the community knowing fully well that the Vigilante members do not have an Ak 47 rifle.
Five of them were rounded up by the military and were arrested. After investigation, Odogu confessed to have led many kidnapped operations in the area, where he killed eight persons who he said identified him. Shortly after his confessions, he was taken to his house where a bag of money, chains, guns, telephones and sim cards were discovered.
Further interrogation by the police, made Odogu reveal that the vigilante group he leads, has been the brain behind several kidnappings in the Kaduna oil community.
They were however handed over to the police who shot them on their legs and drove them to the station for further investigations.
