By Gideon Njoku
For Oladosu Folorunso Ariyo, a Lawyer, his world is finished, almost. He is going through the worst nightmare a parent would go through. It is a nightmare one would not wish for one’s worst enemy.
On January 1, 2024, he excitedly ushered-in the New Year with his wife, also a Lawyer, with his four children. But on January 7, the joy was shattered.
At about 7.30pm, gunmen, dressed in Military uniform invaded his home and kidnapped his wife and their children.
Within hours, the abductors called and demanded the sum of N60m for their release. Aghast and confused and devastated, he began to run round to raise the money. Between him and his friends, the sum of Seven million Naira was raised. When the kidnappers called, he told them he had the sum of N7m to give them. He pleaded with them for mercy.
That infuriated them. And to show him how insulted they felt by his “small” offer, they took the eldest of the four children, 13- year old Michelle, killed her, and dumped her body along the road.
Presently, Barrister Ariyo is going through indescribable agony. He is completely traumatized. The gunmen have promised to kill his other children and wife one after the other if the N60m is not delivered to them.
With no hope, so far, that the gunmen will be tracked down and his wife and children rescued, Ariyo has desperately written a heart rending letter to the leadership of the Nigeria Bar Association, his Colleagues, and appealed to them to help him save the lives of his wife and remaining three children.
In the letter addressed to them, he recounted his ordeal since January 7, 2024, and pleaded with them for help.
The letter reads:
“Dear Learned Silks, Seniors & Colleagues,
“Most respectfully, I’m Oladosu Folorunso Ariyo, a lawyer working in Abuja. On Sunday evening the 7th of January 2024, arround 7:30 pm, a band of kidnappers dressed in full military camon invaded my home located at Sagwari Layout Estate in Dutse, Abuja.
“They kidnapped my wife (who is also a lawyer) and our four children. The kidnappers called and demanded for 60 million ransom out of which through generous donation of friends and family, I’ve been able to raise the sum of N7 million naira which they have vehemently refused to collect.
“As at today, they’ve killed my first born- Michelle Ariyo ( age 13) and dumped her corpse on Kaduna road while threatening to kill my 3 remaining children (who are all minors) and wife who are still in captivity.
“PLEASE AND PLEASE SIR, I URGENTLY NEED THE INTERVENTION OF NBA.”
It is not known if there has been any response from the NBA.
Abuja, Nigeria’s Federal Capital Territory, FCT, has suddenly become a danger zone, unsafe, a no-go-area. Gunmen are not only picking residents off the streets and roads, they are invading Estates and picking people, whole families, from their homes.
The FCT Minister, Nyesom Wike, has come under fire from some shocked residents and Nigerians. They say while he is engrossed in Rivers State politics, FCT, is burning. But at a Securty meeting he presided over on Monday, Wike pushed it back to Council Chairmen. He accused them of constant travels instead of doing the job for which they were elected into office.
On Tuesday, a shocked and embarrassed President Bola Tinubu held a security to find a way out of the terrifying situation. The Inspector General of Police, Dr Kayode Egbetokun, also summoned a meeting of the top echelon of the Police for a solution.
Nothing has come out of the meetings. It is the usual assurances which not a few people have dismissed as empty.
Until Security Agencies put their acts together, Barrister Ariyo will continue to pine away and die gradually over the death of his 13 year old daughter, and the fate of his wife and three remaining children. And so will Mr Al-Kadriyar whose six daughters were kidnapped.
He was kidnapped with them from their home in the Bwari Area, Abuja. While he was released to go and source for the sum of N60m for the release of his children, the kidnappers killed the eldest of his daughters, Nabeeba, a 400 level student of ABU.
