Edo declares war on kidnappers, vows special court, death penalty
•Okpebholo accuses locals of importing criminals from the North
•Police parade suspects, recover vehicles, cash
By Ozioruva Aliu
BENIN CITY— Governor Monday Okpebholo of Edo State has revealed a disturbing new dimension to the insecurity plaguing the state.
Speaking at the 2026 Ministers Conference, organised by the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, last Wednesday, the governor dropped a bombshell that sent shockwaves across the state, when he said criminal elements in Edo are now recruiting mercenaries from the North to carry out kidnappings.
He declared: “Irrespective of the propaganda you see on social media, insecurity is a concern, but the situation is not as reported by mischief makers. Our own people are now getting involved.
“In Ekpoma, this morning, the people that were arrested are not Fulani. At Uromi, three nights ago, the person arrested was not Fulani. But our people are now going to the North to recruit criminals to help them do the job.”
Okpebholo’s accusation paints a grim picture of a state where local criminals are outsourcing violence, kidnapping victims and handing them over to their Northern cohorts in the bush to demand ransom. He warned that the flashy cars and expensive houses sported by young men in the state, often dismissed as the spoils of “Yahoo Yahoo” (cyber-fraud) are increasingly being funded by blood money and violent crime.
The Vegetable Market incident: A 2-minute terror
The governor’s warnings came on the heels of a brazen daylight abduction that shook the state capital. Penultimate Sunday, at the popular Vegetable Market, off Airport Road, two gunmen alighted from a red Lexus RX 350, shot at the tyres of a grey car, and attempted to drag a man into their vehicle. When the target escaped during a commotion, the assailants seized his wife, instead, and sped off in a scene that lasted barely two minutes.
The swift response, aided by CCTV footage, led to a police breakthrough. The kidnappers initially demanded a staggering N40 million ransom, later negotiated down to N8 million. The police urged the family to play along, which eventually led to the arrest of one suspect and the neutralisation of another during a gunfight.
Police parade: Confessions and recovered items
Speaking at a parade of suspects, on Thursday, Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, detailed the command’s successes, standing alongside Governor Okpebholo.
Among those paraded were members of a seven-man syndicate responsible for terrorising motorists along the Benin-Lagos highway, including recent attacks on the Young Shall Grow and GUO Motors.
“Following reports of kidnapping at Iyowa Community, one Musa Haruna was arrested. He confessed to being part of the syndicate and led our operatives to the Ogwa Forest, where we recovered two decomposing bodies of victims,” CP Agbonika stated.
Further investigations led to the arrest of Bali Sule, Mohammed Sani, Adamu Jafaru, and Mohammed Hashiru.
Regarding the Vegetable Market kidnapping, the police arrested Marvelous Isaac, 32, and recovered the red Lexus RX 350 used in the operation, a pump-action shotgun, and N2.25 million in cash suspected to be proceeds from previous crimes.
The suspect’s claim and the victim’s testimony
In a viral video circulating after the parade, the suspect, Marvelous Isaac, who claimed to be from Akwa-Ibom State, made a shocking allegation that the weapon used in the operation was rented from a Chief Security Officer of a local community.
Further drama unfolded when a kidnap victim identified the red Lexus as his own vehicle. The victim, who was abducted on April 23 and tormented for five days in the bush, claimed he paid a ransom but that they never returned his vehicle. The suspects had simply changed its colour from black to red. The victim confirmed the identity of the vehicle to the police, using the chassis number.
Don’t beg me, governor reads riot act
Okpebholo, visibly determined, announced a N10 million reward for the police squad that cracked the Vegetable Market case and promised a fundamental overhaul of the judicial process.
“We are proposing a special court to try kidnappers and cultists, so that in a matter of weeks, their trials will be concluded. And I will not hesitate to sign the death warrant of any convict,” Okpebholo declared to a loud applause at the CAN meeting, where he also urged pastors to stop intervening on behalf of arrested criminals.
Addressing the rising tide of fake news, CP Agbonika warned residents against spreading unverified information, specifically addressing false alarms of school attacks that created panic in the state.
He also cautioned against the emerging trend of “self-kidnapping,” stating that such acts are punishable by law.
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