By Toby TAIWO
Sixty-seven-year-old Seriki Fulani, Abdulahi Muhammadu leader of the Fulani community in Ijebu Ode, who was arrested alongside his eldest child for kidnapping by Police has admitted he knew his son was into kidnapping.
He, however, pleaded innocent as one of the ransom bags was recovered in his kitchen.
He, however, admitted that he was aware that one of his sons, Bala Muhammadu, is into kidnapping, but that he felt that he had turned a new leaf.
He also insisted that he had no hand in his son’s criminal activities, though they both stayed in the same compound.
The Fulani leader also admitted to having taken the wanted suspected kidnapper to the hospital for medical treatment for a month after being released from the correctional centre, where he served a five-year jail term for kidnapping.
The wanted Bala and his two other brothers were reportedly informed of the presence of security operatives around their family compound, and they allegedly quickly escaped through the bush.
It was gathered that operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Unit of the Ogun State Police Command, led by the officer in charge, SP Bamidele Shirtu, while investigating the various incidents of kidnapping around Ijebu Ode, Imodi, Irewon, Iwode, Okun Owa and others, linked them all to Bala, who was just released from prison for the same kidnapping offence.
A police source said: “After a painstaking and intelligence investigation, one of the bags that was used in the payment of the ransom for one of the victims was recovered in the father’s kitchen. One of the children who saw us coming into the community already hinted that Bala and his other brothers and they had escaped through the bush.
“It is not only Bala who is in the business. There is also Ndaji and one other, and we are on their trail. There was an upsurge in kidnappings in the area after Bala was released from prison. He spent five years in prison for kidnapping.”
Muhammadu Abdullai told newsmen that: “My name is Muhammadu Abdulai. I am a cattle rearer and also a farmer. I have been in Yorubaland for more than thirty years now. I have four wives and thirty children in Yorubaland. I was honoured with the title of Seriki of Fulani in Ijebu Ode by the immediate past Awujale of Ijebu Ode.
“I don’t know anything about the bag that was found in my house. I live in the same compound with my children and wives. I have never kidnapped anybody in my life.”
He said, “I know that Bala was into kidnapping. He was arrested and sent to prison. After he came back, I took him to the hospital, where he spent one month for treatment.
“I thought that he had turned a new leaf because he is now into farming and cattle rearing. I didn’t know that he was still into kidnapping. I don’t know if any of my other sons are into kidnapping. I am not into kidnapping, and I will not encourage it.”
