Ten days after the sudden abduction of a Canadian woman, Mrs. Julie Ann Mulligan by some yet-to-be identified assailants in Kaduna, the police authorities in Nigeria are ‘still on top of the situation’. The police disclosed this through its Force Public Relations Officer, Emmanuel Ojukwu, in a telephone interview with Sunday Trust yesterday in Abuja.
The Force spokesman said that the abduction case is still part of the challenges the police authorities are faced with, even though he assured that they are “on top of the situation and the force will soon find a way out of the situation”. He added that the police have got several leads that will help in arresting the culprits.
Ojukwu stated that though they are working hard on the case with a view to unravel it, their work, he said, is made difficult by the low technological advancement in the country. He, however, declared that “the police have, so far, got some leads that may help in the case.” He said that the police will not make those leads public.
The incidence began when the visiting Rotarians went to Katsina from Kano and on April 15, they came to Kaduna but on arrival, their journey to Jos was terminated. On April 16, Mrs. Julie Ann Mulligan, a 45 year-old Canadian was abducted and her four colleagues returned to Canada, abandoning their programme in Kaduna.
The victim, according to the Kaduna State police boss, Tambari Muhammad on reaching Kaduna, was quartered at Tafawa Balewa Guest Inn were the visitors were paired with local Rotarians; Moses Kadeer was Mulligan’s partner. Thereafter, Kadeer and the Canadian left the hotel and on their way home, gun men accosted them at Narayi high cost. The assailants, Kadeer recalled, blocked the entrance to his house with their Toyota Corolla car, metallic grey in colour. The gang, at gun point, ordered Kadeer out of his car, seized his car keys, took his wallet and mobile phone, as well as his camera. While Moses Kadeer was lucky, his partner was taken to an unknown destination.
Kadeer, around 10.40pm, reported the kidnap to the Barnawa police station and the police, including the State Security Service, have been looking for Mulligan since then. Curiously, through Kadeer’s phone, the police had contacted the kidnappers and the abductors, asked for the payment of N100 million as ransom, but later scaled it down to N20 million. And last Monday, when reporters called the number, a voice was asking for the money. Last week, Rotary International ruled out the option of paying the ransom. Significantly, the club and the police are trading blames. According to the police, Rotary International, especially the local chapter, is partly to blame for the incident because of their laxity. The club, he pointed out, should’ve alerted the police when the Canadians arrived, to enable the police provide adequate security for them; covering their lodging, movements and general interactions. Similarly, instead of a decent accommodation, the Canadians were put in a “ramshackle hotel” like Kenfeli, the police chief alleged. Reacting to the police umbrage, Rotary club through Professor Esievo Nelson, the governor of district 9120 in an interview, asked a rhetorical question. “Is it every foreigner or white man that is shown to the police? ” For 30 years, he pointed out; the club has been doing the programme without incident, lodging visitors at members’ homes. “So, for the police to blame Rotary for keeping her in an unsecured place is very unfortunate. ”
Interestingly, from Rotary’s account, Mrs Mulligan was never lodged in a hotel, contrary to police claims. Last Monday, Sunday Trust went to Kenfeli Hotel and made enquiries. Mr Felix Ojeka, the operations manager said neither Mulligan, nor Rotary club or any white lady was their guests. In fact, from Wednesday, April 15, when the Canadians entered Kaduna, to April 16 when she was abducted, up till Monday, April 20 when our reporter visited the hotel, the hotel’s guest register had no Mulligan or any foreign name on it. The hotel, contrary to reports, is located at Busa Close, Barnawa and not Narayi as the police commissioner alleged. Decent, spacious and serene, it is located in a high brow area and the hotel, in terms of facilities, is far from being “ramshackle”.
Similarly, apart from the police, a gap seems to exist in Kadeer’s story. In his report, he claimed to reside at number 29, Unity Link Road, Narayi high cost but last Tuesday, Sunday Trust stumbled onto something different. The house was still locked around 1.30pm but a young girl, barely in her teens, answered our reporter’s enquiries behind locked gates. The house, she said flatly, belongs to Pastor Dominic Sebastine and Moses Kadeer doesn’t live there; in fact she doesn’t know him. Likewise, she has neither seen Mulligan nor any white lady in or around the house. However, she said a few days back, some policemen came looking for the kidnapped woman.
The Chairman of the Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) and governor of the former Kaduna State, Alhaji Abdulkadir Balarabe Musa, has, on the other hand, attributed the recent abduction cases in the North to the country’s social and moral deterioration.