Residents have raised a fresh alarm as supposed herdsmen-kidnappers reconvene and restart abductions and killings in some communities in Delta State after what seemed to be a month of respite, notwithstanding the offensive on them by the Police.
The alleged killer-herdsmen, who laid an ambush for the police at Abraka community in a retaliatory attack over the killing of their gang leader and three others early June, had retreated after Olufemi Abaniwonda, commissioner of police in the state, deployed tactical teams to the university town to tackle the rampaging hostage takers.
However, they have relocated to their hideouts in the forests of Ubulu Okiti, Okpanam, Issele-Azagba, Ogwashi-Uku, and Ibusa communities in Delta North Senatorial District, Delta State, from where they infiltrate the communities, especially at night, to abduct residents.
They shot dead two farmers, Okwuoma and Isichei, at their farms in Ubulu-Okiti community in Aniocha South Local Government Area last Thursday.
The alleged Fulani herders who insolently violate the anti-open grazing law in the state encroached on the farmlands, allowing their cows to eat cassava, maize, and other crops.
Mr. Paul Nweke, a villager who complained about his safety, told NDV: “The incident triggered a shouting match between the farmers and the intruding herders that showed no remorse for the destruction by their cows. But some of them ran away.”
“Okwuoma and Isichei apprehended one of the herders in the process of getting them out of their farms. However, those who ran away mobilised, came back, and got the farmers killed,” Nweke told NDV.
The killing of the two farmers sparked outrage in the community, with some angry residents laying siege to the Asaba-Benin-City expressway at Ubulu-Okiti end.
Superintendent Bright Edafe, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) of the Delta State Police Command, verified the occurrence.
“Again, Fulani kidnappers wielding AK-47 rifles have besieged communities in Delta North Senatorial District, abducting and killing people who refuse to provide ransom,” stated Mr. Stanley Ekeh, who urged the state government and police to protect the locals from the roving herdsmen-kidnappers.
“Kidnappers appear to have taken a vacation in recent weeks, but they have since reorganised and resumed their lethal activities. To protect the law-abiding citizens, the police and other security forces should go above and beyond their current efforts.
The government and police have failed to come up with a workable way to stop these individuals from committing atrocities, so they have persisted. The authorities pretend to be in charge of the situation, but they kill people every day and demand ransom.
Gun-wielding kidnappers seized a mother and her daughter at Okpanam community bypass before the recent Thursday incident in Ubulu-Okiti community. They also took two residents hostage from Ibusa community.
Traditionalists and other Ibusa community members cursed the kidnappers, cultists, and other bandits recently, but the criminals operate unabated.
At the height of the attack on his subjects in May, the traditional leader of Issele-Uku was one of the first monarchs to command his subjects to curse kidnappers and other criminals hibernating in the area.
The kidnappers also abducted a man returning from work at Isah Road, behind the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) office at in Ogwashi-Uku community, and another resident in Issele-Azagba community.
The Police, in a counter-operation by the Special Anti-Kidnapping and Cyber Crime Squad on July 12, tracked some kidnappers to their hideaway in Ogwashi-Ukwu community and seized a kidnapper, Sanusi Abdulahi, with the N5 million ransom that his gang collected from a kidnap victim.
Abaniwonda, the commissioner of police, revealed that the police apprehended five suspected kidnappers, killed some, and recovered arms in a series of operations in Oshimili North and Ughelli areas of the state.
SP Edafe, the command’s police public relations officer, who gave the details, noted in a statement: “On 12th July 2025 at about 0630hrs, the command’s special anti-kidnapping and cyber-crime squad, CSP Godwin Osadolor, led operatives and trailed suspected kidnappers terrorizing Delta State to their hideout in Ogwashi-Ukwu community.
“A suspected kidnapper named Sanusi Abdulahi was arrested in possession of a ransom of five million naira (N5,000,000), which was part of the ransom they collected from one of their victims.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that they were allegedly responsible for a series of kidnappings at Ibusa, Ogwashi-Ukwu, Ubulu-Okiti, Isele-Ukwu, Issele-Azagba, and most recently, the kidnapping of a young lady in Ogwashi-Ukwu on the 9th of July, 2025.
“The suspect led the operatives to their hideout at the Second Deputy and Oko in Asaba, where four other members of his gang were arrested. The investigation is ongoing.
“On the 9th of July, 2025, at about 0835 hrs, along Patani-Ughelli Expressway, near Unenurhei axis, operatives of the CP-Special Assignment Team in a sting operation raided the hideout of Solomon Danisco, aka Picolo, Nelson Jacob, Oruma Saturday, Olise Jude, Precious Urhobowin, and Whisky Rufus, aka Asawana, a native of Ewu community.
“The suspects, heavily armed, engaged the operatives in a fierce gun duel during which the gang members sustained serious gunshot injuries.
“They were taken to the hospital, where six of them were confirmed dead, while two others are still receiving treatment. Exhibits recovered include four (4) locally made guns and nineteen (19) rounds of live cartridges,” the police spokesperson added. – Vanguard.
