The teenage girls - Timilehin Olosa, Tofunmi Popoola and Deborah Akinayo - were kidnapped by gunmen on Monday right in their school premises.
How were they rescued by security operatives at the Imota area of Ikorodu on Sunday?
Public outcry prompted government to meet the needs of security agencies on the rescue operation, while the Inspector-General of Police, Solomon Arase, sent his special team to Lagos to take over the operation.
The security agents had combed every nook and cranny of the state, especially the Ikorodu area, making the abductors uncomfortable to stay in one place.
One of the security agents involved in the rescue operation told Punch that it was discovered that the victims were initially taken to Adamo forest immediately after their abduction.
Adamo forest is across the river in Lugbusi community, where the school is situated in Ikorodu.
The source said, “We gathered that the kidnappers were 12 men, and they came in eight canoes. They used seven AK-47 rifles for the operation.
Another source said from the forest, the gang moved to a creek, located between Ikorodu and Epe, Lagos State, where they also held the girls.
Security agents had the first break on March 4, when a suspected kidnapper, Emmanuel Arigidi, aged 37, was sent by the gang from the creeks to buy foodstuffs.
He was said to have bought foodstuffs big enough for an army, which confirmed the suspicion that he was a member of the gang. He was subsequently arrested.
He said, “Arigidi broke down during interrogation and confessed to being a member of the gang that stole the schoolgirls. He gave us the direction to the place they were keeping the girls, and mentioned the names of other members. He even promised to lead the operatives to the location.”
It was gathered that after waiting for Arigidi for two days, the gang sensed that something was amiss and thereafter moved to an area around Igbo Okuta Bridge, Imota, Ikorodu.
Possible hiding places had been discussed among the gang members while planning the kidnapping.
When security operatives therefore noticed that there were no activities in the creek, they suspected that the gang had fled the area. But Arigidi had no problem in revealing the place they could be.
Also, the relatives of suspected abductors mentioned by Arigidi were said to have been rounded up and made to plead with their people on the telephone to release the girls.
It was learnt that the fathers of two of the suspected kidnappers were allowed on Saturday to go after their sons to talk to them and other gang members to release the girls.
“At about 5am on Sunday, over 500 operatives, comprising the IG team, the Lagos State Police Command and other security agencies stormed Imota and rescued the schoolgirls at the Igbo Okuta Bridge area of Ikorodu,” a source said.
Two other suspected kidnappers were arrested during the operation.
There was disagreement among us
One of the kidnappers of the three abducted schoolgirls, Emmanuel Arigidi, said on Sunday that there was an altercation between him and other 11 members of the gang, which forced him to leave the gang.
Arigidi was paraded on Sunday at the Governor’s Office in Alausa, Ikeja, with two other accomplices — Akanji Sheu and James Henry.
Arigidi opened up to the men of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, who arrested him in Majidun, Ikorodu.
Arigidi, who spoke in pidgin, said that he was invited to participate in the abduction by Lamiameni and Felix, who are still at large.
He said, “Lamiameni was the one who brought the deal and we discussed how to carry out the operation at Majidun. We were 12 in number. We went to Maya Bridge to board a canoe and around 8pm, we entered the school and abducted three girls.
“There was a misunderstanding among us on how to keep the girls. I told them I did not like what we had done and we should release the girls because security had become tight and the police were on our trail. But my gang members threatened to kill me. I managed to board a boat and run away from our den. Three days after, SARS arrested me at Majidun and I explained everything to them.”
Two other accomplices, Sheu and Henry, were not allowed to speak with journalists. But PUNCH managed to speak with Henry before they were taken away in a police van.
Henry said he was a victim of circumstance. He said he helped customers to register their lines in Ikorodu, adding that a line, which he registered, using his photograph, was used by the kidnappers.
It was learnt that the kidnappers had used the line to negotiate ransom with the school and Henry was picked up after the police tracked the number.
He said, “I register SIM lines for customers in Ikorodu. I helped a customer to register his line but after he had left, I discovered that his photograph did not appear on his profile. In an attempt to submit his details, I used my photograph instead. That was how the police traced the line to me. Except the photograph, other details are not mine.”
Schoolgirls healthy, not molested
Lagos Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni, said medical treatment carried out on the freed schoolgirls confirmed that they were hale and hearty, adding that the police adopted intelligence-based policing and technology to rescue them.
Parents celebrate release of schoolgirls
On Sunday, parents were seen celebrating the rescue of the girls, while a thanksgiving prayer session was also organised in a church on the school’s premises.
Amid shouts of praises and laughter, some parents were seen hugging one another while the school frontage was filled with cars of parents, who came to celebrate the news.
The Lagos State Governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, has said his administration had the will and capacity to fight all forms of crime and criminality in the state. Kidnappers will find it tough in Lagos.
“Let me warn that the state government will not tolerate kidnapping or any form of crime in Lagos. Our position is clear and unambiguous; Lagos State has the capacity and the will to go after every form of crime and criminality in order to safeguard lives and property.”
“The three girls have been safely re-united with their families and the government wishes to assure Lagosians that their security is top priority and it will not relent in ensuring that Lagos remains safe and secure,” Governor Ambode assured.
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