Shocking: Fashola turned me into a criminal - Kidnapper

– Investigation had been ongoing on the
abduction of Alonge Oluwa Tumishe, a four-
year-old boy in January 2013 by a five-man
kidnap gang
– The kidnappers were said to have
demanded for a ransom of N5 million for
the boy’s release after taking him to
Abeokuta, the capital of Ogun state
– A kidnapper among the hardened
criminals blamed Babatunde Raji Fashola,
minister of Power, Works and Housing for
his predicament
Vanguard learnt that family members of the
kidnapped boy, who owned a well-known
school around Ishaga area of Lagos state,
were in a state of sadness after his
abduction, making them to isolate
themselves from the society afterwards.

Babatunde Raji Fashola, immediate former
governor of Lagos state and current Minister
of Power, Works and Housing
On Friday, June 10, men of the Nigerian
Police Force revealed that its operatives at
the Inspector General of Police Special
Intelligence Response Team (SIRT), tracked
down the suspected kidnappers to their
secret abode at Ishaga, Agege and Egbeda,
all in Lagos, and thereafter apprehended
three members of the gang.



In the course of the raid on the suspects,
men of the SIRT recovered a locally made
gun. In the process, two members of the
kidnap gang escaped, and they are still
being trailed.
The suspected criminals said it was the need
for cash that made them kidnap the four-
year old boy. The suspects identified
themselves as Paul Ibara, Ifeanyi Obi and
Tunde Edu.
While explaining further, Vanguard gathered
that Edu and Obi said Ibara, who always
calls himself ‘Mopol’ tricked them to become
members of the gang.
Ibara, 36, is an indigene of Akwa-Ibom
state. He explained that he became a
criminal so that he could raise money and
save his father, who he said was diagnosed
with prostate cancer.
Ibara stated:
“I live with my wife and children at Ishaga. I
went into crime because my father was sick.
He had prostate cancer. I was in Maiduguri,
when he fell sick and I took excuse and
came back to see him. When I saw him, his
condition was very bad and the doctors
wanted to do a surgery on him. The hospital
at Uyo demanded N450,000 but they could
not do it and they referred us to a hospital
in Ghana where they demanded N800,000.

“Since I just came back from Maiduguri, I
had no money. Then I started thinking of
how to raise money. I thought of a rich man
in my area who had a very big school and
planned on how to kidnap his son.
“Tunde Edun, who is also known as Otunba,
is a very popular person in our area, and
used to visit my wife’s shop and there was a
time he told me that he was broke and was
looking for money to pay his children’s
school fees. When I briefed him about my
plans, he told me that he was interested but
he wanted to be sure if the man had money.
I also invited two of my friends, Victor and
Yellow from Abia state, who I knew during
political rallies.
“I asked Victor to come with two registered
SIM cards which we would use to
communicate with the victim’s relatives. I
also contacted one of my friends, Ifeanyi
Obi, who sells spare parts at Ladipo Market,
and that he would provide the vehicle we
would use for the operation.
“Victor brought a gun, and Otunba also
brought a gun he said belonged to his
father. A day before we kidnapped the boy,
we met in my wife’s shop and we concluded
our plans. I told them I would be the one to
monitor the boy’s movement, while they
would abduct him. The next day, when the
boy was on his way to school, I called and
informed them and they kidnapped him at
the entrance of our street. They took him to
Abeokuta and they kept him in Tunde Edun’s
father’s house.”
Ibara, a member of the gang also spoke
about the ransom they demanded. He said:
“I got the man’s number from a student that
attends his school and I demanded N10
million. The man told me that he did not
have such money and he paid us N5 million
after four days and we picked the money
along Abeokuta Road.
“We asked the man to put on his rear lights
and when we saw the vehicle, we asked him
to drop the money by the side of the road.
We also released the boy that night and we
shared the money. We all got N1 million each
and I sent N700,000 to my father and the
surgery was conducted successfully. Last
month, Ifeanyi called me and when I met
him, he brought the police and I was
arrested.”
One of the suspects, Tunde Edu, who is an
indigene of Abeokuta, revealed that it was
his friend that made him join the gang, Edu
said:
“I am a club bouncer and I reside at Agege. I
have a national diploma in Estate
Management from Moshood Abiola
Polytechnic. It was Paul that invited me for
the job. I had approached him in the past
and told him that I wanted a job and I asked
him to assist me. Two weeks later, he called
me and said someone was owing him
money and I should assist him arrest the
person’s child and when the person pays
him he would give me my percentage. He
told me that we needed a gun for the
operation and I told him that my father had
a gun.
“I went to our home town and took my
father’s gun. On the day of the operation, I
was in the car with Ifeanyi and the two guys
Paul invited, and we stopped the car that
was taking the boy to school with my gun
and kidnapped him. We then took him to my
father’s house before the ransom was paid.
I rented an apartment with my share of the
percentage and I also paid my children
school fees.
“After that operation, I stopped seeing Paul
and Ifeanyi. I was arrested at a fillings
station where I was controlling crowd. I
don’t know that what I did was kidnapping,
I was only trying to assist a friend.”
However, Ifeanyi Obi, who is 32 years old
and hails from Abia state gave a shocking
confession, when he said it was Fashola,
while as governor in 2012 destroyed his
source of livelihood at Ladipo spare parts
market, that forced him into crime.
Obi revealed: “I am not married. I came to
Lagos in 2008. I am not educated. I am from
a very poor family. After serving my boss for
seven years at Ladipo, my boss settled me
with his shop and some money. From there,
I started doing my own business.
“On December 28, 2012 I was at my village
and I got news that former Lagos State
Governor, Babatunde Fashola had broken
our shops. When I returned to Lagos, I
couldn’t find any of my goods. A few days
later, one of my customers called me to
bring a spare part for him at Abattoir,
opposite an RRS base from where he took
me to the shop of a Mopol man’s wife and
he introduced him to me and we became
friends. I told him that I wanted to sell my
SUV and I needed money to start afresh and
that I had lost all my money in my shop
when it was demolished because I stocked
my shop before travelling for Christmas. He
told me that there was job that would pay
me good money. He told me that the man
was very rich and would easily pay. After the
ransom was paid, I was given N700,000 as
my share.”