Uneasy calm over killing of 7 Keke riders in Enugu
There is uneasy calm within the Hausa community
at the Central Mosque, Owerri Road area of
Enugu, following a crucial meeting between the
community leadership and riders of tricycles
(popularly called Keke NAPEP) of Northern origin
at the weekend, over the murder of seven of their
members. A similar meeting scheduled between
the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Nwodibo
Ekechukwu, and leadership of the Northern
community did not hold as the CP was said to
have travelled outside the state on official
engagement.
According to one of the leaders of the community,
Alhaji Yusuf, “The CP’s trip outside the state
prevented us from meeting with him. But we may
still have the meeting as soon as he comes back
to Enugu.”
The meeting the Hausa community had with Keke
operators, among other things, deliberated on
the possibility of stopping the tricycle operators
from night operation, persuading them to have
one single union, interfacing between them and
the dealers of tricycles who sell to the operators
at outrageous hire-purchase prices, Daily Trust
gathered.
“The Northern community is facing pressure from
the owners of the tricycles sold on hire-purchase
to the Keke operators. The leadership of the
community would like to negotiate the prices for
them. Some of them signed N1million while
others signed N800,000 with the dealers. And they
pay N15,000 to the Keke owners weekly. That’s
why they do the night operations in order to meet
up. So, we want to start negotiating for them,”
one of spokespersons of the community, Alhaji
Mohammed Lawan, told Daily Trust.
“The leadership of the community here advised
them to stop operating in the night because
attacks and snatching of tricycles were done at
night,” Alhaji Lawan said. Daily Trust recalls that in
the first week of March, the Nnorthern
community raised alarm over the sudden
disappearance of three of its members, and
consequently appealed to the Enugu State
government to quickly improve on the security
situation of the state.
The three missing members - Nuhur Tahir, Musa
Nuhu and Idris Lawan - were all commercial
tricycle riders whose permanent base was the
Enugu Central Mosque Unit, Owerri Road. Nuhu
and Musa hailed from Doguwa LGA of Kano State
while Idris was from Kafin Hausa LGA of Jigawa
State.
Our reporter gathered that both Musa Nuhu and
Tahir were last seen in the community on
Saturday March 6, 2016 when they left with their
tricycles for their usual business but never
returned. Also, Idris Lawan left with his tricycle
the next day, Sunday, March 7, 2016 and up till
the time of filing this report, he has not been
found, nor his tricycle located.
As if that was not tragic enough, towards the
middle of March, yet another Keke operator from
the Central Mosque Unit, Owerri Road, Enugu,
twenty-five-year-old Sule Lado was also declared
missing with his Keke, bringing the number of
victims to seven. Lado, married with kids, hailed
from Bunkure Council Area of Kano State.
However, while Lado’s corpse was found when
two suspects led security operatives from the
Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Enugu Police
Command to the spot he was buried in a shallow
grave, the corpses of Tahir, Lawan and Nuhu are
yet to be located.
Sometime in January 26 this year, three
decomposing corpses of missing tricycle riders
from the Central Mosque Unit - Sule Babangida
(22), Ashahabu Dauda (30) and Samaila Abdullahi
were discovered and exhumed from a shallow
grave at a building site at Ugwuaji in Enugu South
LGA of the state.
Deputy Chairman, Keke Riders Association,
Central Mosque Unit, Owerri Road, Abdullahi
Zubairu recalled that Lado’s brother informed the
community about his disappearance. The
members then reported at the Ogui Police Station
and the State Police Headquarters who
immediately radioed other stations including the
CID and Anti-Kidnapping Unit. But there was relief
among members of the community as operatives
from the Enugu State Police Command Anti-
Kidnapping Base led by their commander, Supol
Alex, arrested two of the suspected criminals
during the week.
State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP
Ebere Amaraizu, told Daily Trust that police
detectives are working round the clock to find out
what actually happened, to fish out the criminals.
Amaraizu did not state whether the police have
made any arrest or not, but a source said some
arrests have been made in connection with the
killings. “We are working on it and I believe the
police will get to the root of the matter,” Amaraizu
said.
“When the police arrested the two suspects, they
led the police to the same Ugwuaji area where
they killed and buried Sule. The corpse was
exhumed and later reburied at the cemetery,”
Zubairu said.
When asked why they targeted Keke operators of
Northern origin, one of the suspects said: “They
are the ones we can easily convince to convey us
at night; if we tell the Igbo keke riders, they are
usually suspicious and decline.”
When Dahiru, Nuhu and Lawan were declared
missing, a search party of about 100 people was
formed and they combed every nook and cranny
of Enugu, according to the Deputy Chairman, who
added that the search party combed Emene
Road, Enugu/Port-Harcourt Express Road and
Ugwuaji area but up till now the missing persons
have not been located.
The community said that its members have been
living peacefully with their host but wondered
how things could have suddenly gone awry that
lawless elements have set up a criminal gang
specialized in kidnapping and killing tricycle
operators of Northern extraction.
The Chief Imam of the Enugu Central Mosque,
Alhaji Rukalmeni Saeed, and the entire Northern
community were delighted over the arrest of the
suspects. “The community was becoming worried
over the disappearance of its members, resulting
in suspicion of hostility by the host community
until the police arrested two of the murderers
who stated how they charter commercial tricycles
to lonely areas, attack and kill the operators and
thereafter take their tricycles to Anambra State
for sale,” he said.
Reacting to the development, President of Enugu-
based human rights group, the Civil Rights
Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN),
Barrister Olu Omotayo, asked the state
government to ensure that “no stone is left
unturned in apprehending all members of the
killer gang behind these dastardly acts,” adding
that “We demand that all those involved in the
dastardly act be made to face the full wrath of the
law.”
at the Central Mosque, Owerri Road area of
Enugu, following a crucial meeting between the
community leadership and riders of tricycles
(popularly called Keke NAPEP) of Northern origin
at the weekend, over the murder of seven of their
members. A similar meeting scheduled between
the Enugu State Commissioner of Police, Nwodibo
Ekechukwu, and leadership of the Northern
community did not hold as the CP was said to
have travelled outside the state on official
engagement.
According to one of the leaders of the community,
Alhaji Yusuf, “The CP’s trip outside the state
prevented us from meeting with him. But we may
still have the meeting as soon as he comes back
to Enugu.”
The meeting the Hausa community had with Keke
operators, among other things, deliberated on
the possibility of stopping the tricycle operators
from night operation, persuading them to have
one single union, interfacing between them and
the dealers of tricycles who sell to the operators
at outrageous hire-purchase prices, Daily Trust
gathered.
“The Northern community is facing pressure from
the owners of the tricycles sold on hire-purchase
to the Keke operators. The leadership of the
community would like to negotiate the prices for
them. Some of them signed N1million while
others signed N800,000 with the dealers. And they
pay N15,000 to the Keke owners weekly. That’s
why they do the night operations in order to meet
up. So, we want to start negotiating for them,”
one of spokespersons of the community, Alhaji
Mohammed Lawan, told Daily Trust.
“The leadership of the community here advised
them to stop operating in the night because
attacks and snatching of tricycles were done at
night,” Alhaji Lawan said. Daily Trust recalls that in
the first week of March, the Nnorthern
community raised alarm over the sudden
disappearance of three of its members, and
consequently appealed to the Enugu State
government to quickly improve on the security
situation of the state.
The three missing members - Nuhur Tahir, Musa
Nuhu and Idris Lawan - were all commercial
tricycle riders whose permanent base was the
Enugu Central Mosque Unit, Owerri Road. Nuhu
and Musa hailed from Doguwa LGA of Kano State
while Idris was from Kafin Hausa LGA of Jigawa
State.
Our reporter gathered that both Musa Nuhu and
Tahir were last seen in the community on
Saturday March 6, 2016 when they left with their
tricycles for their usual business but never
returned. Also, Idris Lawan left with his tricycle
the next day, Sunday, March 7, 2016 and up till
the time of filing this report, he has not been
found, nor his tricycle located.
As if that was not tragic enough, towards the
middle of March, yet another Keke operator from
the Central Mosque Unit, Owerri Road, Enugu,
twenty-five-year-old Sule Lado was also declared
missing with his Keke, bringing the number of
victims to seven. Lado, married with kids, hailed
from Bunkure Council Area of Kano State.
However, while Lado’s corpse was found when
two suspects led security operatives from the
Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Enugu Police
Command to the spot he was buried in a shallow
grave, the corpses of Tahir, Lawan and Nuhu are
yet to be located.
Sometime in January 26 this year, three
decomposing corpses of missing tricycle riders
from the Central Mosque Unit - Sule Babangida
(22), Ashahabu Dauda (30) and Samaila Abdullahi
were discovered and exhumed from a shallow
grave at a building site at Ugwuaji in Enugu South
LGA of the state.
Deputy Chairman, Keke Riders Association,
Central Mosque Unit, Owerri Road, Abdullahi
Zubairu recalled that Lado’s brother informed the
community about his disappearance. The
members then reported at the Ogui Police Station
and the State Police Headquarters who
immediately radioed other stations including the
CID and Anti-Kidnapping Unit. But there was relief
among members of the community as operatives
from the Enugu State Police Command Anti-
Kidnapping Base led by their commander, Supol
Alex, arrested two of the suspected criminals
during the week.
State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), DSP
Ebere Amaraizu, told Daily Trust that police
detectives are working round the clock to find out
what actually happened, to fish out the criminals.
Amaraizu did not state whether the police have
made any arrest or not, but a source said some
arrests have been made in connection with the
killings. “We are working on it and I believe the
police will get to the root of the matter,” Amaraizu
said.
“When the police arrested the two suspects, they
led the police to the same Ugwuaji area where
they killed and buried Sule. The corpse was
exhumed and later reburied at the cemetery,”
Zubairu said.
When asked why they targeted Keke operators of
Northern origin, one of the suspects said: “They
are the ones we can easily convince to convey us
at night; if we tell the Igbo keke riders, they are
usually suspicious and decline.”
When Dahiru, Nuhu and Lawan were declared
missing, a search party of about 100 people was
formed and they combed every nook and cranny
of Enugu, according to the Deputy Chairman, who
added that the search party combed Emene
Road, Enugu/Port-Harcourt Express Road and
Ugwuaji area but up till now the missing persons
have not been located.
The community said that its members have been
living peacefully with their host but wondered
how things could have suddenly gone awry that
lawless elements have set up a criminal gang
specialized in kidnapping and killing tricycle
operators of Northern extraction.
The Chief Imam of the Enugu Central Mosque,
Alhaji Rukalmeni Saeed, and the entire Northern
community were delighted over the arrest of the
suspects. “The community was becoming worried
over the disappearance of its members, resulting
in suspicion of hostility by the host community
until the police arrested two of the murderers
who stated how they charter commercial tricycles
to lonely areas, attack and kill the operators and
thereafter take their tricycles to Anambra State
for sale,” he said.
Reacting to the development, President of Enugu-
based human rights group, the Civil Rights
Realisation and Advancement Network (CRRAN),
Barrister Olu Omotayo, asked the state
government to ensure that “no stone is left
unturned in apprehending all members of the
killer gang behind these dastardly acts,” adding
that “We demand that all those involved in the
dastardly act be made to face the full wrath of the
law.”
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