Armed hoodlums who impersonated Nigerian soldiers, dressed in camouflage, abducted seven wedding guests at the Isara, Ogun State end of the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway, demanding N60 million ransom on Saturday.
Out of the seven abducted, three were released.
One of the victims released, Folahan Akinsola, narrated they were on their way from a wedding ceremony in Ibadan, capital of Oyo State, when their car broke down and was trying to field a solution to it before some hoodlums attacked and kidnapped them.
He said: “We went to attend a wedding in Ibadan on Saturday and lodged there after the wedding. The following day, as early as 5.30 am, we started our journey to Lagos State. We moved in a convoy of three vehicles, including two Toyota Corollas and one Toyota Camry.
“I was in the Toyota Camry ahead of the two other vehicles and we were trying to overtake a truck on the expressway. But as our driver overtook the truck, we zoomed off and had moved quite a distance before realising that we could not see others coming behind us.
“So, we turned back and drove against traffic to search for them. We later found them by the roadside around the Isara area. One of the drivers of the Toyota Corolla, Shola, said his car developed a fault. We were cutting the seatbelt of his car to use a rope to tow the vehicle to somewhere safe when four armed men came out of the bush and kidnapped seven of us.
“The kidnappers were all dressed in Army uniform and commanded us to enter the bush. There were more than four, as there were some of them inside the bush. They took some personal belongings and set some of us free.
“I was part of the people that were released and we were told to go and raise N15m to secure the release of each of the remaining four victims. So, we are to raise N60m and that is why we are seeking help from Nigerians as these kidnappers said they will waste them if they don’t get the money.
“After we regained our freedom, we called 911. We were driving back to Ibadan when we met some metropolitan policemen and also reported the case to them. But we were told that the case was not within their jurisdiction. We were referred to the Isara Police Division.
“We later reported the case there and got to know that the Divisional Police Officer had mobilised about 25 policemen to the scene of the incident. These kidnappers have been sending threat videos showing us our friends in their custody,” he told Punch.
Akinsola identified the victims as Adeola Bude, John Segun, Demola, aka Smith, and Bude’s colleague, Shola.
