Kidnappers beat, gave me rotten food, says 67-year-old victim

Mrs. Florence Popoola, 67, of Araromi Quartres, Ikere Ekiti, Ekiti State, who was abducted and held for four days, yesterday, revealed her ordeal in the hands of a five-man gang of kidnappers.

Popoola and those fingered in her abduction were presented to journalist by the Ekiti State Commissioner of Police, Mr Abdullahi Chafe.

The suspects were identified as Adeoye Sunday (30), Adeusi Dare (26), Ogunlayi Seun (25), Bamigboye Damilola (27) and Ojo Tope (32).

Popoola said that but for the prompt payment of a ransom if N1.5m, the gang would have killed her.

Popoola revealed how she was forcibly driven away from her house in her Nissan car, to a thick bush in Awo Ekiti. She was also forced to sleep in an open place, fed with soured rice, defecated and vomited at the same spot in those four days she was held in captivity.

According to her, the suspects seized her phone and drove out of Ikere via Ilawe before arriving at the outskirts of Awo, where she was held in captivity.

She said: “They stopped at a place in the bush, called my children and asked to start looking for money. They asked my children to pay N1.5 million for my freedom. They offered me food, but I rejected it. They also brutalised me, and insisted that I should eat. I was forced to eat but I vomited, I defecated and urinated in the same spot where I was tied down.

“When they discovered that security men were on their trail, they changed location and continued to beat me. They said I had got them into trouble. After my children paid the ransom, they started making moves to release me. They carried me on a motorcycle to another unknown location. Some people returning from church and night guards came to my rescue and assisted me in calling my family. It was around 9.00 pm that I breathed the air of freedom.”

Recounting how the suspects were trailed and arrested, Chafe said they were tracked through efforts of the anti-kidnapping unit of the police command. Chafe disclosed that N323, 000, being the remainder of the ransom, was recovered from the suspects.

Chafe, who spoke through the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Alberto Adeyemi, explained that Popoola was abducted shortly after arriving from the church and whisked away in her Nissan Sunny car with registration number AG 08 KER.

The suspects, who confessed to the crime, revealed that they had used part of the ransom collected to rent a two-bedroom flat and purchased other luxury items.