Some suspected kidnappers abducted a 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Christiana Idowu, along the Ikorodu-Yaba Road last week.
A family source who spoke with PUNCH Metro on the condition of anonymity on Monday disclosed that the abductors were demanding a sum of N3m as a ransom before they could release the student.
The source told our correspondent that Christiana had left her home in the Itaoluwo area of Ikorodu heading to the University of Lagos in the Yaba area of the state where she was observing her industrial training before she was abducted by the kidnappers.
The source disclosed further that after she was unreachable for a while, the abductors reached out to the family through her telephone, demanding that a ransom of N3m be paid before she could be released.
The source added that after several appeals from the family, the abductors agreed that a sum of N350,000 be paid to a certain account, which the family paid, but the abductors refused to release her despite the payment
The source said, “They are communicating with the family through her WhatsApp, and they demanded N3m. We appealed to them, and it was reduced to N1m, then N500,000, and later, they asked that we pay N350,000.
“After we paid the N350,000 ransom, they refused to release her to us and were demanding that we send the bank statement of the account we made the transfer from before they would release her to us.
“We have reported the matter to the police and can not handle it as a family again. We are urging the government and the public to come to our aid.”
When contacted, the Ogun State Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Folashade Oluwole, said she had not been informed of the incident but promised to get back to our correspondent. She had yet to do so as of the time of filling this report.
PUNCH Metro reported on August 22 that some youths in Lagos State thwarted an attempted kidnap of a car dealer on Ebute Igbogbo Road in Ikorodu Local Government Area.
It was learnt that the suspects, including Taiwo Olayinka, Azeez Sodiq, and Saheed Moonstruck, had been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.
A viral video showed the three suspects, stripped and covered in blood, and sitting inside a car while being repeatedly questioned and beaten by the youths who caught them after the failed kidnap attempt.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the suspects’ arrest through his handle on X.com.
Clarifying the incident, Hundeyin stated that the trio were suspected to be either thieves or kidnappers, adding that an investigation was underway. – THE PUNCH
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