Police Arrest, Parade Five Suspected Kidnappers in Ekiti, Warn Residents

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
The police in Ekiti State have arrested five suspects who kidnapped a 67-year-old woman, Mrs. Florence Popoola, at her residence in Ikere-Ekiti on September 14.

The suspects, according to the state Commissioner of Police, Abdullahi
Chafe, were tracked down through the efforts of the anti-kidnapping unit of the police command.
The suspected kidnappers are Adeoye Sunday, 30; Adeusi Dare, 26; Ogunlayi Seun, 25; Bamigboye Damilola, 27, and Ojo Tope, 32, who drove the woman to a forest in Awo-Ekiti and held her captive for four days.

A sum of N1.5 million was said to have been collected as ransom from the families of the victim before freeing her on September 18 when the police had closed in on them.
During the parade yesterday, Chafe disclosed that N323,000, being the remaining ransom money recovered from them.

Chafe who was represented by the command’s spokesman, Alberto Adeyemi, revealed that the woman was abducted shortly after arriving from the church, and was whisked away in her Nissan Sunny car with registration number AG 08 KER.

The suspects who confessed to the crime revealed that they had used part of the ransom collected to rent a two-bedroom flat and purchased other luxury items.

But the victim, Popoola, disclosed that the suspects seized her phone and drove her out of Ikere via Ilawe before arriving at the outskirts of Awo where she was held in captivity.
She said: “They stopped at a place in the bush and they asked my children to be looking for money, that they should pay N1.5 million for my freedom.

“They offered me food but I rejected their food; they beat hell out of me and insisted that I should eat. I was forced to eat but I vomited it, I defecated and urinated in the same spot where I was tied down.
“When they discovered that security men were on the trail, they changed location and continued to beat me that I have put them in trouble.

“After my children had paid the ransom, they were making moves to release me, and they carried me on a bike to another unknown location.
“Some people coming from the church and night guards came to my rescue and assisted me in calling my family that was around 9.00 p.m. that I breathed the air of freedom.”

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