Abuja kidnappers fight over N3m ransom after killing victims

A kidnap suspect identified as David Moses has confessed to the killing of a 55-year-old school nurse and caregiver, Mrs Chinyere Anaene, and a 14-month-old toddler, Nanenter Yese, at Clear Hope Foundation Academy, Dawaki, Abuja.

Moses, who was a security guard deployed to the school, said he was pushed to the crime by an alleged accomplice named Sunday Irimiya, who is at large.

He explained how the two of them lured Anaene and Yese out of the school and eventually killed them after collecting a N3m ransom.

Moses made the confession while answering questions from journalists at the Federal Capital Territory Police Command on Friday

He said he and Sunday had planned to kidnap the victims for ransom, initially demanding N250m before settling for N3m.

“What brought me here is that I killed a child with a nurse in Clear Hope School on July 23. My friend and I demanded N250m ransom. We later settled for N3m, which we collected,” he said.

Moses said the incident later took a violent turn when Sunday stabbed him during a dispute.

“We had issues while sharing the ransom. My friend stabbed me with a knife, took the money, and ran away. I struggled and went to someone’s house and told the person what was going on. But I didn’t tell the full truth at that time because I was afraid the community might kill me immediately.

“I insisted on seeing the police so they could take me to the hospital and I could explain the whole story. When the police came, they took me to the hospital, and I told them the whole story after I received treatment,” he said.

Detailing how the school nurse was killed, Moses said she was lured into a trap under the guise of checking something in a toilet, where Sunday allegedly strangled her with a rope.

Moses said,”I went to call her from her class. I told her I wanted to show her something near the front toilet, where Sunday was hiding. As we were going, Sunday came out from behind and held the woman. He put a rope around her neck and started strangling her. She struggled but eventually became weak.”

He said the child was later abducted and killed at Sunday’s insistence.

Moses said, “He told me to run and bring the baby so we could also kill the baby. I said no, that the woman alone was enough. He insisted, saying that if we didn’t bring the baby, the ransom we demanded wouldn’t be enough. So, I went and brought the baby.”

When asked how many people he had killed or kidnapped before, he said,

“I have never done such a thing. This was the first time someone pushed me into any evil act.”

Probed further on his relationship with the woman and the baby, he said the nurse gave him N300 to buy food the day she was killed.

“The woman was nice to me. In fact, that very day, she gave me N300 to buy food. She had been giving me money to eat even before then.”

A representative of the security company that employed Moses, Zachariah Fiyinfoluwa, distanced himself from the crime, saying he was only informed of the disappearance of the nurse and child after the school principal raised the alarm.

“I don’t know anybody called Sunday. The person we posted to the school is David,” he said.

However, under questioning, Fiyinfoluwa admitted that the company failed to properly document Moses’ employment, including failing to keep his guarantor’s information.

“For us not to keep the record, I accept that it’s our fault,” he said.

When pressed further on the company’s responsibility, especially for the safety of persons within the premises, Fiyinfoluwa admitted that supervisors were supposed to routinely visit deployment sites but did not confirm if such oversight occurred at Clear Hope School.

The FCT Commissioner of Police, Ajao Adewale, in an interview with journalists, said the victims were reported missing on July 23, 2025, by the school the same day.

He said a ransom of N250m was demanded via the caregiver’s phone the same day.

The CP said following an investigation, police operatives arrested Moses, who later confessed to conspiring with his friend, Sunday Irimiya — currently at large — to carry out the crime.

He said the police had also arrested the school principal, two other security guards, and the Chief Security Officer of the private security company that deployed Moses to the school.

Cupped from punch.