Police parade kidnapper, robbers in Ibadan

A Fulani herdsman, Abubakar Mojumba, has been arrested by the police in Oyo State for allegedly abducting a 22-yearold housewife, Sadiat Musa.

The 22-year-old man is alleged to have kept the housewife in a forest where he and the members of his gang raped her for three days.

Oyo State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Abiodun Odude, who paraded the culprits at the police headquarters, Eleyele, Ibadan, said 15 among them were involved in armed robbery and that they were arrested in different parts of the state.

“They were caught with weapons such as guns, cutlasses, local bulletproof jackets, mobile phones, wrist watches, expended cartridges, cars, motorcycles and so on,” the CP said.

“The suspect and others now at large conspired and kidnapped a 22-year-old lady from her residence at Elewuro Village in Iganna to a thick forest in Iwere-Ile, where she was held hostage for three days and they sexually abused her before she was rescued.

“While abducting the victim, the hoodlums also stole her husband’s motorcycle with which she was taken away. The suspect was later arrested with the assistance of the villagers while trying to negotiate with victim’s family members for a ransom,” he said.

Mojumba, who spoke through an interpreter, confessed that he participated in the abduction because his gang members promised to give him a motorcycle.

“Before we left them on that day, we collected the husband’s phone number so that we could negotiate the ransom. The following day, we went back to the house to drop our phone numbers for easy negotiation. My colleagues promised to give me a motorcycle after the ransom must have been paid. But now all of them have run away,” he lamented.

The CP also paraded two members of a notorious armed robbery gang, Janyu Bello, 25, and Aliyu Lawal, 20, who had been terrorising motorists and passengers on Iwere IleIgangan Road, Ado Awaye -Iseyin Road and other places in Oyo State.

Also paraded were members of a four-man armed robbery gang responsible for robberies in Akobo, Egbeda, Olodo, Idi Iroko along Olorunda Road and other places in Ibadan. The gang allegedly robbed 16 houses in three communities on June 3, this year.