Two graduates of polytechnics, who were arrested by the Lagos State Police Command for alleged kidnapping, have said they took oaths of allegiance before they could join their gang.
They added that the oath was administered by a herbalist from Ijebu Ode, Ogun State.
Our correspondent learnt that the suspects– Ifeanyi Chukwuleta, Kolawole Alani and Rasheed Adetunji– were members of the gang that allegedly kidnapped a businesswoman, Kudirat Adeboye, in the Ajah area of Lagos in April.
26-year-old Alani from Efon Alaaye, Ekiti State, who claimed to be a graduate of a polytechnic in Ogun State, said he was asked to hold a charm and swear to an oath of allegiance to the gang.
He said, “I studied Business Administration in the polytechnic. I was in my final year when I met Niyi (Omosola). He came to me and said he had a job for me. When I visited him in Ikorodu, I met a herbalist from Ijebu Ode.
“So, he made me and another person he invited to swear to oaths of allegiance. The herbalist was called Baba. The door was locked and the Baba brought out many charms, and we were initiated. I was asked to hold one of the charms and repeat some words after the herbalist.
“I did not go with the gang during the operation to kidnap the woman. However, I have participated in two operations.
“In the first operation, we abducted a man in the Ajah area and I was given N100,000. The second was in Ijebu Igbo in Ogun State and I got N115,000. My role is to stay in the bush and look after the abducted people.”
Chukwuleta, 25, said Omosola told the gang members that the people he kidnapped owed him money and he had to make their families to pay him.
He said, “I finished from a private polytechnic in Lagos. I read Mass Communication. I met Niyi (Omosola) at a viewing centre. I told him I had some financial difficulty and he said he would help me.
“He said he had an electricity company and some people owed him money. He claimed he was kidnapping them to collect his money.
“My role is to watch over the victims in the bush. He first took me to a herbalist for an oath. I have gone with the gang on two operations. In the first operation, they gave me N115,000 and I used it to start a business. I got N80,000 from the second.
Speaking on the matter, the Lagos state police commissioner, Kayode Aderanti said after much negotiation with her family, her abductors agreed to collect N3 million.
"The son of the victim on getting to the place where he was asked to bring the ransom, one of the kidnappers came out to collect the ransom. Unknown to him, some of my officers were stationed around the area and were able to arrest him and he led them to where other members of the gang were and where the victim was been kept right inside the bush"he saidThree of the gang members were arrested and paraded before press men at the state police command. They confessed to the crime, saying their gang leader, Niyi Omoshola died during a gun battle with the police. They said this was the 4th kidnapping they were attempting. Two of the gang members are currently at large
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