An Ekiti-based oil marketer, Alhaji Suleman Akinbami, has disclosed that he was kidnapped by four men who spoke “good Yoruba” and claimed to be jobless graduates.
Akinbami had been kidnapped on Sunday, January 10 from his petrol station located along Ado–Ijan Ekiti Road in Ado-Ekiti.
His abductors subsequently contacted his family and demanded N60 million as ransom.
However, the petroleum products dealer regain his freedom in Kogi State the following Sunday.
Speaking with the media after regaining his freedom, Akinbami described his experience in the kidnappers den as “very horrible”.
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Explaining how he was kidnapped, Akinbami told Saturday Punch, “I had been feeling like resting about three days earlier, so I spent the day indoors.
“At about 7pm, after observing prayer at my mosque along the Ikere Road, Ado Ekiti, I thought I needed to go my petrol station along Poly Road.
“So, I got there, observed my prayer, after which the station manager and I went to check the generator under repairs. On our return from the generator house, I saw some people moving towards us, I asked my manager who they were and whether he received visitors that late and he said he did not know them.
“I asked the strangers why they were there but they replied that they were looking for me. I asked them why they were looking for me, but the next thing was that they brought out guns.
“At that stage, I knew that there was trouble. They started threatening me; they demanded my car key, which I released to them.
“They ordered me into the car and they drove me off. I did not know where I was until the day I was released one week later.”
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Asked to comment on the tribe of his abductors, Akinbami stated, “They spoke good Yoruba and good English.”
Asked if it meant that they were Yoruba, the businessman explained, “I want to believe that if they are not Yoruba, they had been in Yorubaland for long. They spoke good Yoruba. They spoke good English as well. They claimed to be jobless graduates.”