The crowd gathered at the Oyo state Police Command on Saturday were shocked when a 20-year-old boy, Ibrahim Aliyu Babatunde, confessed that he arranged for his father’s abduction at gunpoint.
Aliyu and three other members of his gang were paraded by police at the command headquarters in Eleyeile, Ibadan. Other members of the kidnap gang were – Babuga Salihu (20), Aura Sands (20), and Amuda Yusufu (19), The Nation reports.
The victim, Alhaji Aliyu Babatunde, was abducted at his Igboora home town and spent three days in the kidnappers’ den before he was released after the family paid N1 million ransom.
He said, “We are many. My father married many wives and he doesn’t care for us. We are left by my father to fend for ourselves. So, I think the only way to get money out of him is to organise for his abduction and force him to part with the money.”
Babatunde added that he invited his three friends to abduct his father for the purpose of getting money from him.
He blamed the devil for the crime, saying his father spent three days in the bush before the family rallied to pay the ransom.
According to The Nation, Commissioner of Police Abiodun Odude revealed that Alhaji Aliyu Babatunde was abducted on his way to Gbogbolowo camp in Igboora at about 6pm on May 17.
“The victim was eventually taken to an unknown place where he was kept for some days by his abductors who later demanded ransom as a condition for his release.
Initial arrest of one of the suspects, led to subsequent arrest of the kingpin and other members of the gang.