The gang members, who were behind the kidnap of 70-year-old Senator Iyabo Anisulowo, said they were already finetuning the plan of abducting Otedola when operatives of IRT surprised them.Daniel, 28, a Biochemistry student who dropped out of Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, in 200 level, was arrested while negotiating for N4m ransom with another kidnapped victim’s family members.
The suspect, who said their gang members were predominantly Fulani herdsmen, boasted that if not for him, Anisulowo would have been killed. He said: “I wasn’t carried along in the kidnap of the senator. It was spearheaded by a certain Maman.
Our members were expecting to get N50million ransom from the senator’s family. But they refused to pay. After the senator’s kidnap, the police raided Maman’s family members and friends. There were also police helicopters hovering all over the place. Some of our members got angry.
They called and told me that they wanted to kill the senator to serve as deterrence to other would be victims. I begged them for two days to spare her life. It was because they respected me, they spared her. She was released. That singular effort I made saved the life of the senator.”
The suspect, from Imo State, said he was born and raised in Kaduna State. Narrating how police frustrated their plans to kidnap Otedola, Daniel said: “We were perfecting plans to abduct billionaire businessman, Femi Otedola, before I was arrested.
We narrowly missed abducting him when he attended a function in Ibadan, Oyo State. We couldn’t abduct him because of heavy security operatives. We decided to take our time and prepare properly for the second attempt.”
Police alleged that Daniel and his gang of kidnappers were part of those terrorising the South Western part of the country. Daniel further said: “There was someone working with Otedola who brought the kidnapping job to us.
The person told us that Otedola was going to be in Ibadan. When we went to Ibadan, we saw Otedola, but there was heavy security presence around him. I told my gang members that we should wait and re-strategize before attempting to kidnap him again.
I told them that the first thing I would do to ensure the operation was successful was to carry out spiritual sacrifices to the gods. The sacrifice was to ensure I defeat Otedola spiritually. You know, a man like Otedola is powerful spiritually.”
Daniel said that after carrying out the spiritual fortification, the next time was to ensure that gang members got army, DSS and police uniforms. Daniel said that he realised that without impersonation, there was no way they would be able to get close to Otedola because of his social status.
They needed to wear security uniforms and blend with Otedola’s security men. Daniel stated: “The last thing on our list in order to abduct Otedola successfully, was to ensure we monitor his movements regularly. We were doing this, through our contact, who was close to him.
We were supposed to strike on a day that he had a few security men with him. We were going to achieve this in November; if we succeeded, it would have been my last job. I was planning to demand N2billion. We were however hopeful that he would negotiate for nothing less than N500m.”
The gang kidnapped Anisulowo on April 27, 2016. Anisulowo represented Ogun West Senatorial District, between 2003 and 2007 in the senate. She was abducted along with her security aide on the way home from her farm, located along Igbogilad Road, in Yewa Local Government Area of Ogun State. Anisulowo was released after 10 days in captivity. Following the abduction of Anisulowo, the IGP ordered operatives of the IRT to track the kidnappers and rescue the woman.
It was in the process of the painstaking investigation, that one of the suspects, Mohammed Babuga, was arrested. He provided information that aided the IRT operatives in arresting Daniel at the Festac area of Lagos State.
The IRT operatives, led by a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP), Mr. Abba Kyari, described Daniel as a high-tech expert in coaching Fulani herdsmen on how to carry out kidnap and evade tracking by policemen. He was also alleged to train the men on how to use the ICT in evading arrest.
Daniel, who said he joined the kidnap gang in 2014, was an undergraduate when he started hijacking petroleum tankers. He was later arrested, charged to court and sent to prison. He joined kidnapping after he was released from Oyo State Prison. He was arrested in 2012 for hijacking a petroleum tanker along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. He said that during his sojourn in prison, he met Mohammed Babuga, a Fulani, who eventually led him into kidnapping.
He said his role in the gang was to negotiate for ransom with abducted victims’ families. He described himself as an expert in ensuring that ransoms were collected successfully. He said: “I spent one year in prison. My case was struck out from court over lack of evidence.
When I regained my freedom, I couldn’t go back to school. I was born and bred in Kaduna State. I speak Hausa fluently. It was in prison I became friends with Mohammed. We were in the same cell. After a year in prison, I realised prison wasn’t a place for reformation.
I discovered that inmates were planning and orchestrating jobs right from inside prison.” Mohammed left prison before Daniel. After Daniel regained his freedom, he traced and found Mohammed. Mohammed told him that he had joined a kidnapping gang and without thinking much about it, Daniel teamed up with Mohammed’s gang. Daniel said: “We kidnapped a man. I don’t know the man’s name. We kept him in a forest in Ilorin.
We were paid N5m. Our second job was the kidnap of an Alhaji. I did the negotiation. We got N15m from the Alhaji’s family. I got N2m as my share. I bought a car with my share. Our operation was in Kwara State. We later kidnapped a man, who identified himself as Akintola. We received N3m as ransom from the family.
The fourth operation was the kidnap of a man and we collected N5m as ransom.” He said that after the fourth operation, they swooped on Anisulowo. Daniel said that he wasn’t carried along in the abduction of the senator. He added: “I was in my house in Festac when I saw the news on television.
I called Mohammed to confirm the abduction. He told me that it was Maman and his gang that carried out the job.” Daniel, who was full of arrogance, said he was always two steps ahead of law enforcement agents.
He bragged about being acquainted with strategies of the DSS and the police, in tracking and tackling kidnap cases and other violent crimes. He said: “I have a friend, who is a hacker. He assisted me to hack into DSS and police websites. It was through that process, I normally monitored their new tracking methods.
Before I was arrested, I knew the police were looking for me. I however believed in my knowledge of Nigeria security apparatus, but it failed me”. Mohammed Babuga, 32, from Kebi State, married with two children, said he was first arrested in 2011 after a robbery operation.
He went on that operation with Maman, along Kaduna Road, Kwara State. He said his role, while working with Maman’s robbery gang, was to take the gang to operations venues. He had taken the gang thrice and received N156, 000 in total.
It was on the third operation that local vigilante men arrested him in Ilorin. They handed him over to the police. He was charged to court and remanded in prison. He said: “It was in prison I met Daniel.
After I left prison, I joined a kidnap gang. It was led by Boeyi and Bubah Bube. We kidnapped a Fulani man and got N4m ransom. I was given N700, 000. We did our second job at Rejob, a boundary town between Kebbi and Niger States.
We collected N2m. I got N250, 000. After that operation, I left Kebbi. I relocated to Oyo State. One day Boeyi called me. He said he wanted to join me. He got an Ak47 rifle. One Abubakar, a herdsman, also brought a Pump Action Rifle.
We contributed money and bought a Honda Bullet car. Boeyi brought a job, which was to kidnap a man. Before we went for the job, Daniel joined us. We did four jobs together before I was arrested.” Also arrested for having a link with the gang, is one Ganiu Muhammadu.https://newtelegraphonline.com/insider-gave-us-information-kidnap-otedola/
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