The Police, on Friday paraded four persons said to be herdsmen, who allegedly abducted the newly-appointed Vice Chairman of Remo North Local Government Area of Ogun State, Soniyi Taiwo.
The suspects – Muhammad Abdulahi, 25, Ibrahim Dikko, 20, Gambo Abdulahi, 25, and Mohammed Sulaimon, 23, were said to have kidnapped Soniyi, a member of the Transition Committee of Remo North Local Government on January 10 along Fidiwo–Ipara road, while he was returning from an outing.
Soniyi’s abductors demanded a ransom of N50 million but they were arrested following intense manhunt by a special unit of the Ogun State Police Command at the forest at the Fidiwo axis of the Lagos–Ibadan highway.
The operatives were said to have combed the forest for days until the kidnappers set him free upon discovering that the police were closing in on them.
The Commissioner of Police, Kenneth Ebrimson, who paraded the suspects at Eleweran, the Command Headquarters, said they were arrested after the command’s “technical and forensic investigation” enabled it to geo-locate them and the victim in the forest.
Ebrimson added that the initial arrest of three of the suspects, led to the subsequent arrest of the fourth who fled but was tracked to Idi-Ayunre in Ibadan, Oyo state capital.
“Having realised that the police were closing in on them, the hoodlums released their victim, but three (3) members if the hand were subsequently apprehended as a result of an intense combing of the bush where they were traced to,” he said.
He noted that the victim, Soniyi, had identified the suspects as his abductors, stressing that the confessional statement already extracted from them would also assist the police apprehend other fleeing gang members.
He maintained that no ransom was paid before the politician’s freedom was secured.
