At 30, Zakeri Isiaka is a millionaire and a frightening one. In political circles in Kogi State, Saturday PUNCH learnt that a mere mention of his name sends shivers down the spines of those who are familiar with his activities.
To Kogi State indigenes, Isiaka is a
dreaded political thug, who killed at will. To the police, he is a
combination of a daring robber and killer but to his family, he is the
husband to nine wives and a father to 15 children. But the negative
descriptions are all inaccurate, according to Isiaka’s statement to the
police. He said he was a freedom fighter “out to rescue Kogi State from
the clutches of evil men controlling the affairs of the state.”
Asked about a number of killings which
he allegedly carried out in Kogi State, Isiaka said those he was accused
of killing were his political foes and criminals who were after his
life.
According to a source, he got on the
radar of the police when he allegedly led a gang that attacked
operatives of the Inspector-General of Police Response Team in July 2016
and snatched a rifle from them.
But on October 23, a three-month
operation to track him down paid off when members of the IRT cornered
him on the Okene–Akure Expressway and apprehended him while he was on
his way to Akure, Ondo State.
He was transferred to the Force
Headquarters, Abuja, where he promptly gave a detailed account of his
operations, which spanned several states.
A police source told Saturday PUNCH that Isiaka’s gang were responsible for many cases of kidnaps and robberies in Kogi and other North Central states.
When Isiaka was arrested, the police
recovered 15 rifles along with several magazines and ammunition from
him. One of the guns was the one his gang allegedly snatched from the
IRT.
Saturday PUNCH learnt that the
day the gang snatched the gun, operatives of the IRT were in the state
to rescue a kidnap victim, Edward Amedu, being held in a forest camp by
Isiaka’s men.
When the gang sighted the police team, he was said to have ordered his men to open fire on their approaching vehicle.
The police source said that in the
process, two operatives of the IRT sustained bullet wounds. At the end
of the operation, the IRT had lost a rifle to Isiaka’s team.
Two of his men were said to have been
arrested at the time of the operation. They later led the police to
where the victim was rescued.
Isiaka, a native of Odu-Ochelle in
Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State, allegedly started off as a
robber before joining militants in the Niger Delta and later became a
political thug, who at a point, took control of his entire local
government area.
Isiaka said he was once a farmer, who
laboured for eight years till he could no longer endure the suffering
and travelled to Port Harcourt, Rivers State, where he joined the group
of militant leader, Ateke Tom.
He said, “I dropped out of secondary
school and had nothing else to do but to go into farming at Iseyin, Oyo
State. I did that till I went to Port Harcourt and started living with a
young man. One day, I went to a joint where I normally smoked Indian
hemp and saw some men discussing there. I realised they were militants
involved in oil theft.
“I approached them and told them I was
interested in joining them. They gave me the beating of my life. They
accused me of being an informant. I was beaten for almost one week
before one of them, who said he was one of Ateke Tom’s boys, finally
said I could join them.
“He taught me how to handle guns and we
burst many pipelines together. I was making almost N3m in each
operation. After making enough money, I moved to Abuja and built a
house. I bought some cars and started a car dealership. When I left the
creeks, I came back with three guns, which I took to my village in Kogi.
“The sitting governor of Kogi State at
the time, had given guns to thugs in the state. Because these same thugs
killed my blood brothers during a disagreement, I had to keep the guns
in Kogi so that I could use them to protect myself.”
Isiaka said during the 2011 governorship
election in Kogi State between Idris Wada and Prince Abubakar Audu, he
went home to “protect” the votes of his people.
According to him, the guns he brought
back from the Niger Delta came in handy. He said despite this, one of
his friends was killed during the election.
The suspect said, “After that election, I
came back to Abuja and continued my business. I am a kind man, I even
bought motorcycles for people as gifts. I first married three wives.
“Before the 2015 election, thugs of the
Peoples Democratic Party and All Progressives Congress had a clash. I
had to come back home and fight on the side of the APC. That was when
the APC knew that I had become a powerful person. They realised they
needed me.
“During the presidential election,
Prince Audu gave me N30m to work for his party. But my younger brother,
Farouk, was killed by PDP thugs in front of my father. He was picked up
in his room where he slept beside his wife. They killed him and took
his body away.
“When it was time for the governorship
election, Prince Audu called me again and mobilised me with N20m and
promised that he would make me the Chief Security Officer of the state
if he won.
“He said he would make me Kogi’s youth leader and I would even be in charge of collecting revenue on farm produce in the state.
“My boys and I worked very hard. I was
almost killed when I was ambushed by a PDP thug. So, I would have become
the state’s CSO if Prince Audu had not died.”
Isiaka claimed that when Governor Yahaya
Bello assumed office, he had made overtures to him, indicating that he
could be useful to his government but got no reply.
According to him, some individuals might have scuttled his chances because of his closeness to the late Audu.
Isiaka said, “The people I fought were
PDP thugs, who wanted to kill me and since APC came into power I have
called on all my boys who are into armed robbery to stop because I have
repented.
“Few weeks before the last governorship
election, I communicated with some of my boys from Okene, who used to
rob in my area. I advised them to quit because I discovered that the
people of Kogi State wanted change and they were accepting what I was
telling them. I knew that if APC won, my boys and I would enjoy.
“But they refused, so, I tricked them. I
told them that I had a job for them and when they came to my town, I
took them to a hotel. While they were inside, my boys went to where they
parked their operational vehicle and stole all their guns.
“I control all the APC thugs in Kogi
State and since I repented, I have been seriously against crime. Any
of my boys who got involved in kidnapping, I personally arrested and
handed over to the police but in most cases the police would release
them after collecting money.
The police in Kogi State can confirm
this. After all I did, the state governor (Bello) did not appreciate
my efforts. He believes that I am still in support of Prince Audu’s son,
Mohammed, but that is not true. My loyalty is to APC.”
Speaking about some of the robbery
operations he was involved in, Isiaka said few weeks before the
governorship election in Kogi in 2015, he and his gang robbed a vehicle
carrying a huge amount of money in Abuja. He said he made over N50m
from the operation and that he narrowly escaped death as one of his gang
members attempted to kill him.
According to him, one Dan brought the job to him.
“He told me that some politicians were
moving money around Abuja and it seemed that the money was meant for
election. We planned our operation and we ambushed the driver and
snatched the vehicle.
“After the operation, I kept three
Ghana-Must-Go bags for myself and I gave Dan and others involved two
bags to share. But while we were sharing the money, Dan, who had a gun
with him, wanted to shoot me. He ended up shooting himself.”
The suspect said in another operation in Okene, Kogi State, his gang made N10m.
He said he lost seven of his rifles to
the police in Niger State after they arrested his younger brother, who
gave one of his guns to a friend. The friend then used it to snatch a
car.
According to Isiaka, he gave the guns to
his manager for safe-keeping but said when he was away for the
election, his younger brother decided to rent out one of the guns to his
friend.
“When my brother and his friend were
arrested, he led the police to my car stand in Abuja where police seized
all the vehicles in it and they also carried away my seven rifles.”
Despite his situation, Isiaka has a word of advice to the government on how to curtail crime.
He said amnesty should be offered to anyone carrying a gun in the state, saying that there are too many guns on the loose.
SOURCE: PUNCH
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