By; BAYO AKAMO, Ibadan
Oyo State Police command on Thursday, paraded three suspected
killers of the US based Ogbomoso born hotelier, Mr. Gbenga Owolabi.
Addressing journalists at the Oyo State Police Command Headquaters Eleyele Ibadan, the Commissioner of Police, CP Adebowale Williams said the suspects Namaru Abubakar 25, Saliu Abubakar, 30, and Usman Abubakar aged 23 were arrested based on credible informations provided by one of their victims.
He stressed that nemesis caught up with the arrested suspects when they reportedly narrated how they killed the Ogbomoso born hotelier while negotiating for ransom to be collected on another victim kidnapped by them.
” On 16th September, 2021 at about 0715hrs, one Alhaji Waheed Hammed, a cattle dealer in Ogbomoso town while returning from his cattle ranch located at Adafila Village, via Ogbomoso was intercepted at a desolate spot by some notorious kidnapping syndicate that have been terrorizing members of the public in Ogbomoso and its neighboring towns”, he said.
CP Williams stressed that the kidnapping syndicate who were reportedly armed with AK-47 Riffles, Cutlasses and some other dangerous weapons reportedly attacked Alhaji Waheed Hammed and later whisked him away into a thick forest where they contacted his relative and demanded for One Hundred Million Naira (N100, 000, 000. 00k) ransom before he would be released.
The Commissioner of Police said on getting wind of the incident through a duly written petition, he directed that all available resources be deployed in rescuing the victim unhurt with his abductors arrested, hence the transfer to the Command’s Monitoring Unit leading to the combing of the thick forest alongside local hunters and Vigilantes, they stumbled upon where the victim was held captive and rescued him unhurt.
CP Williams stressed that the victim during debrief narrated his ordeal in the hands of his abductors and explained that while the kidnappers were negotiating his ransom, they claimed responsibility for the death of an Ogbomosho hotelier, Mr Gbenga Owolabi (Now Deceased) and that he,(the abductee) would suffer a similar fate should his ransom payment process get thwarted by involving the Police.
The CP maintained that the victim also gave other useful information to the Police operatives and this led to the arrest of three members of the kidnapping syndicate who identified themselves as NAMARU ABUBAKAR ‘M’, SALIU ABUBAKAR ‘M’ and USMAN ABUBAKAR ‘M’.
” Upon detailed interrogations, the suspects explained in detail how one Mohammadu (now at large) who happened to be a former employee (cattle herder) of the victim invited them and some other Fulani cattle herders from Kebbi State to carry out the criminal activity. Investigation is still in progress to track down other members of the criminal syndicate”.
The suspects were paraded along some other suspected criminals for their alleged involvements in various crime cases such as kidnapping for ransom, armed robbery, among others within the state.
