By Donald Ezeora
A former director of the Department of State Services (DSS), Mike Ejiofor, has revealed that three of those who kidnapped him in 2017 were serving military officers.
Ejiofor made the revelation Thursday morning during a live AIT Town Hall Meeting, ait.live, with the theme: ‘Kidnappers on Rampage’.
Recall that Mr Ejiofor was kidnapped along with his driver between Okene and Obajana in Kogi State, according to him, while he was travelling from Delta State to Abuja. In an interview he granted afterwards he said they demanded N30m as ransom and revealed they were not Fulani herders but Fulani gunmen who had nothing to do with cattle rearing.
But speaking on the inadequate number of security personnel to police the whole country on the AIT town hall forum, ait.live Thursday, the former intelligence chief said the police are the lead agency in policing the nation and that it is grossly undermanned and under-funded.
“President Buhari directed 10,000 policemen to be recruited every year but that was not followed, otherwise, by now we would have additional 80, 000 personnel in the force.
“However, even the ones we have, how do we use them effectively,” he said, adding that there are bad eggs among the rank and file.
He went on to mention that during his kidnapping a few years ago, three of his abductors were serving military personnel.
“Because they knew me, they (soldiers) told their members that ‘this is their oga, they should not assault me’,” Ejiofor said, adding, however, that it did not stop them from collecting ransom before freeing him.
