A Point of Sale (POS) machine operator, 21-year old Bello Hammantukur, has also been arrested for using his business bank details to collect the said feeding money.
The Nigerian police have arrested two Almajiri students and their Quranic school proprietor, Sheikh Mohammed Modibbo in connection to the kidnapping and murder of six-year old Chukwu-Ebuka Edwin, after collecting N152,000 for the kid's feeding from his father in Adamawa State.
A Point of Sale (POS) machine operator, 21-year old Bello Hammantukur, has also been arrested for using his business bank details to collect the said feeding money.
This followed vehement complaint by the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) while raising the alarm over what it described as "the spade of kidnapping for ransom and killing of Christians in the North-East by Islamic extremists."
In a statement on Monday, CAN had condemned the recent abduction and subsequent murder of the six-year old kid by some Almajiri, students of Sheik Dahiru Aliyu Arabic and Islamic School, Tudun Wada, in the Ganye Local Government Area of Adamawa State.
On May 10, 2024 SaharaReporters had reported that two suspected kidnappers, Mukhtar Mohammed, 20, and Husseini Suleiman, 20, were arrested for kidnapping and killing a six-year-old victim in Adamawa State.
Mohammed and Suleiman reportedly kidnapped the kid, Chukwu-Ebuka Edwin at Tudun Wada in the Ganye Local Government Area of the state and killed him after collecting N152,000 for his feeding, according to a statement by the police.
Similarly, a commercial bus conveying passengers from Biu in the neighboring Borno State to Damaturu, the Yobe State capital, was stopped and four young men on board identified to be Christians were pulled out of the bus and led into the bush.
Three of them were later murdered gruesomely, as reported by SaharaReporters on Saturday.
While lamenting the terror killings on Monday, CAN noted that, the six-year-old Edwin was “kidnapped by students of Sheik Dahiru Aliyu Arabic and Islamic School, Tudun Wada, Ganye Local Government Area.
“The kidnappers are Almajiri students of the above mentioned school who entered the house of Brother Edwin well-armed with an AK-47 rifle at about 1am on 2nd May, 2024.
"The kidnappers were four in numbers, two were outside while two entered the house where they threatened Brother Edwin Eze and kidnapped his son, late Chukwu-Ebuka Edwin to an unknown destination.
"They later called the father to pay a ransom of ten million Naira (N10million) for the release of his son. Edwin Eze told them he had no such money. Then they demanded the sum of N152, 000 for the feeding of his son which he paid through a POS (Point of Sale) account given to him by the kidnappers.
"The Ganye Divisional Police officers swung into action immediately they received the report of the kidnap incident and succeeded in arresting the kidnappers on May 9th, 2024. The kidnappers, in their confessional statement, said they killed their victim, master Ebuka Edwin, on the same day they kidnapped him and buried him behind their school.
"They took the police to the shallow grave where they buried him and the body of the deceased was exhumed by the murderers under the supervision of the police.
"CAN sincerely appreciate the DPO of Ganye, for his passionate efforts in urgently investigating and arresting the kidnappers."
However, the religious body has expressed dismay over a report emanating from some quarters seeking to distance Almajiri students from the crime.
The group asserted that the report purportedly claimed that “the kidnappers took their victim (Ebuka Edwin) to a forest on the border between Nigeria and Cameroon and buried him."
The religious group explained, "the truth of the matter is that they buried him right behind their Quranic school, Sheik Dahiru Aliyu Arabic and Islamic School, Tudun Wada, Ganye, Ganye Local Government of Adamawa State, not up to 500 metres from the victim’s house."
CAN, described the murder as "mind-boggling, alarming and a signal for worst things to come if precautionary measures are not adopted by both the the state and the Federal Government."
It further wondered how "ordinary ragtag Almajiri boys could afford to procure AK 47 rifles and embark on kidnapping and murdering innocent citizens. It further queried, "how many dangerous weapons are in their arsenal, and how many students of the Islamic school are kidnappers and killers who have been disguising or hiding their criminal activities and parading themselves as students (Almajiris)?"
CAN, therefore, urged the commissioner of police and the director of the Department of State Services (DSS) to launch a special investigation into the activities of Sheik Dahiru Aliyu Arabic and Islamic School.
When contacted the spokesperson for the police in Adamawa State, SP Suleiman Nguroje, confirmed the arrests of the Quranic school proprietor, the Almajiri boys and the POS operator.
"We've arrest the school proprietor with the two Almajiris and one Bello Hammantukur, who received money on behalf of the abductors.
"I can also confirm that while the Almajiri school proprietor had denied knowledge and/or involvement in the crime, the initial suspects, Mukhtar Mohammed and Husseini Suleiman have confessed to the crime.
"The Commissioner of Police, Dankombo Morris has ordered the expansion and discreet investigation, to the intend that all those involved in the crime would be brought to book," Nguroje said.