Notorious Kidnapper Rearrested After Release

A suspect, Ubaka Livinus, who was granted bail by a Lagos magistrate’s court for allegedly kidnapping an employee of Dangote Group and demanding $40,000 (N6.2m), has been re-arrested for a similar offence.

Ubaka, who was granted bail on June 27, 2012, was re-arrested on September 4 by the Special Anti-Robbery Squad for allegedly kidnapping a cousin to billionaire businessman, Alhaji Aliko Dangote.

Also arrested with the suspect were Kingsley Izuka and Segun Ayigbe.

Ubaka, the son of a dismissed police inspector Afone Livinus, and his group also allegedly kidnapped the son of an Indian expatriate and successfully collected a ransom of $200,000 (N31.2m)from the victim’s family in February 2011.

The bubble burst for Ubaka after 28-year-old Izuka went to Elemoro, Ajah, to pick $150,000 (N23.4m) ransom demanded for the release of Dangote’s cousin.

When arrested, it was learnt that Izuka lied to the policemen that he was a commercial motorcyclist and was paid to pick up a parcel.

After waiting fruitlessly for several hours,Ubaka and Ayigbe suspected that Izuka must have been arrested and changed their tactics.

They called the supposed relatives of Dangote’s cousin and threatened to kill their victim, who was held at a hotel, if Izuka was not released.

Unknown to the 25-year-old suspect, the relative whom they had called was an immigration officer who immediately informed SARS about the latest development.

A SARS team quickly left for Ajao Estate and when the suspects saw them, they engaged the policemen in a shootout and later fled from the scene.

It was learnt that Ubaka ran into a building and hid on the roof. But one of the policemen, Corporal Adulrahman Mohammed, reportedly pursued him.

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Umar Manko, who confirmed the arrests during a parade at the state command, said Mohammed continued the chase even when he ran out of bullets.

He said, “The Officer in Charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, who led the rescue effort had to throw up his gun to Mohammed who was also up on the same roof with Livinus. That was how Livinus was eventually captured.

“Two operational guns were recovered from the suspects with 15 live cartridges. The victim was left at the hotel in the care of another member of the gang. When the shootout started, this last suspect guessed that Ubaka and Ayigbe were being pursued by the police and he quickly left the hotel, living the victim alone in the room.”

Ubaka told PUNCH Metro that after his first successful kidnap operation last year, he had purchased two plots of land around the Lekki Free Trade zone from his share of the $200,000 ransom.

He said, “I also went to Ghana for a while; I spent a month there.  In fact, I didn’t come back to Lagos till January this year when I got a call about another likely victim we could kidnap. Immediately I returned from Ghana, I moved to Abuja.

“It was while I was collecting the ransom of $40, 000, close to the airport that I was arrested by policemen from the State Criminal Investigation Bureau. My family had to offer my Pathfinder jeep to my lawyer to enable him to secure bail for me.”

Izuka on his part insisted on his innocence. “I offered them my apartment and had no idea what they were into until one night when I returned from work and met them (Ubaka and Ayigbe) with a man who was blindfolded. I wasn’t always at home because I had to go to work. I am not a member of their gang.”

Ubaka’s father, Afone, was also accused of aiding and abetting his son.

Manko said, “Before Ubaka was arrested, he was traced to his father’s house at Sangotedo, Ajah but his father claimed ignorance of his son’s whereabouts. When Ubaka was eventually arrested, he told the policemen that he had spent some time at his father’s house just a few days before. Investigation is still on to apprehend the last member of the gang who is currently on the run.”