Exclusive: Ex-Minister’s Son Unmasks Kidnappers … Police Probe Victim’s Staff

Ololade Adeyanju/

Dayo, the son of the immediate past Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who was kidnapped on Tuesday and released yesterday, has disclosed that his masked abductors spoke in a manner that suggested that they are Hausa-Fulani.

A source close to the ex-minister’s family disclosed this to NewsmakersNG.

Dayo was kidnapped by gunmen at about 6.30pm at his poultry farm in Iroko, near Oyo in Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State.

According to the source, “Dayo said the kidnappers were four in number and their leader used a face mask and also wore military camouflage.

“He said that the three others did not cover their faces, but only put on black clothes and were armed with guns and other dangerous weapons. He added that they spoke a language he suspected to be Fulani.”

The source did not say if a ransom was paid to secure the victim’s release.

Checks by NewsmakersNG suggested that the massive deployment of security personnel and equipment in the area might have forced the kidnappers to release their victim.

The victim was taken away in his car, which was later abandoned at Aba Ode Junction, around Amosun village, about two kilometres from the scene of the abduction.

A combined team of security operatives and local hunters were subsequently deployed to comb the forest around where the victim’s car was recovered.

Meanwhile, police said they had arrested three suspects, including the victim’s driver, Gbenga Ogunleye, who was employed a few days before the incident. Others are the farm manager, Sodiq Adebayo and another unidentified staff.

The Assistant Inspector General of Police in charge of Zone XI, comprising Oyo, Osun and Ondo states, AIG Leye Oyebade, justified the suspects’ arrest while speaking with journalists during a visit to the scene of the incident alongside the Oyo State commissioner of police, CP Sina Olukolu, on Wednesday.

Oyebade said: “Actually, this incident is very unfortunate because it is coming after we have been able to map out a lot of strategies to address the challenge we are facing by these undesirable elements.

“From our inspection of the scene, interaction and interrogation of the workers, and those that were present at the scene, we can really say that the modus is changing, the tactic is changing, and their way of operating is changing. Since they now know that we have been able to cover the roads, they are now coming to isolated areas, looking for targets that can be approached, having monitored them.

“With what we gathered here, the suspects covered their faces and from the story that is being given, we are not ruling out the involvement of those that are very close (to the victim) in this particular situation. But whatever it is, we are going to unmask those that are behind this, and that is the assurance I am giving to members of the public.

“The Inspector General of Police has given a mandate and on that mandate, we stand that kidnapping will become highly unprofitable. With the system we are going to use now, with the application of STI and with the commitment and drive of police officers that have been deployed, we are going to uproot them.”

He further enjoined citizens to be security conscious while recruiting domestic staff, noting that employers must go beyond ordinary interviews.

“Employers must ensure that the potential employees bring some form of collateral, get their photographs and also do background checks on them, either as driver, cook, or gatekeeper,” Oyebade added.

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