Ekiti State Police Command, on Friday, said one of the suspected abductors of former Commissioner of Agriculture in the state; Mr. Folorunso Bamidele Olabode had been arrested.
Folorunso, who was kidnapped by some suspected Fulani herders men on Sunday, April 26, 2020, at ilemeso-Ekiti along Isan- Iludun Road in Oye Council, was left off the hook after eight days in captivity.
Parading the suspect, Yakubu Aliyu, at the Command headquarters in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, the police spokesman, ASP Sunday Abutu, said the suspect confessed to be a member of the kidnap syndicate that abducted Folorunso.
He said, “During interrogation, Aliyu confessed to be a member of kidnap syndicate that kidnapped Mr. Folorunso Olabode, former Commissioner for Agriculture to Governor Kayode Fayemi.
“Other gang members mentioned include Dani, Gide, Danja, Bello, Sidi, Babi, Ali, and Wada. Both Wada and Bello Mohammed had earlier been arrested, prosecuted and now being imprisoned at the Ekiti State correctional centre”.
“We have invited the former Commissioner for Agriculture to come and identify them. But the suspects said that all the faces of their victims were being covered and that it will be difficult for anyone to identify their faces.”
Abutu added that a murder suspect, Ayo Lawal, who killed a motorcyclist simply identified as Isaac inside a farm at Odo Oro, Ikole Local Government Area of the state had also been arrested.
Isaac was said to have conveyed Lawal, one Jimoh Ojo, Sule Abduallahi and one other person (name withheld) from Ikole to a farmstead at Odo Oro Ekiti, where he was murdered and the corpse buried.
Abutu said two of the suspects had been arrested and confessed to the crime, adding that the police are on the trail of Abdullahi and Wonder, who had allegedly bolted with the motorbike to Kogi State.
“Following a tip-off, the Command’s operatives had on 24th November 2020 arrested Ayo Lawal and Jimoh Ojo and they had made a confessional statement. We are assuring you that those who at large will be arrested soon”.
Lawal who said he was prodded by one Abdullahi, who is now at large to commit the heinous crime, saying he partook to raise money to purchase yam tubers for the 2020/2021 planting season.
“It was Abdullahi that said we should kill the deceased so that he could go to Okene, Kogi State and sell the motorbike with the intention to use my own share to buy yam tubers for the next year’s planting season.”
