‘We chained businessman inside toilet for four days’

                                       

Three suspects, who allegedly kidnapped a Lagos businessman, Alhaji Hammed Fashola, have narrated how they chained the victim and kept him inside a toilet for four days.

PUNCH  had reported on Monday, November 24, that the Lagos State Police Command arrested two brothers ─ Kelvin and Victor Igah ─ and Mr. Chukwuma Kingsley for allegedly kidnapping Fashola near his residence in Egbeda, Lagos on November 13.

It was reported that the three suspects were arrested by operatives of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad from their hideout on Odeniyi Ishola Street, Isheri-Oshun, Lagos four days later, while Fashola was rescued by the police.

While being paraded at the command headquarters on Wednesday, 39-year-old Kelvin said two gang members, who brought Fashola to the hideout, claimed he owed them a sum of money, which they wanted him to pay by force.

Kelvin, who is married with two children, added that the gang chained 55-year-old Fashola and locked him up inside a toilet for the four days he spent with them.

He said, “I was the one assigned to stay with Alhaji (Fashola). On that Thursday, Ike and Odogwu drove Alhaji to my house in Isheri-Oshun. They used my house as the hideout. They said the man owed them some money, and they wanted to make him pay it.

“He spent four days with us. I was the one who chained him inside the toilet. I was also bringing him food for the days he spent.”

Kelvin, who said he was a labourer, added that they had yet to collect the demanded ransom of N20m before the police arrested them.

In his own confession, Kingsley, 43, from Isele-Ukwu, Delta State, said his role was to monitor Fashola’s movement on the day he was abducted by the gang.

He said, “I was assigned to monitor Alhaji’s movement on that Thursday and inform the gang. Once they captured him, I did not follow them to the hideout. I was arrested by the police when the gang named me.

“I was working with a private security company in Apapa, Lagos. I first met Ike and Odogwu in 2006 at a place in the Anthony area. I was promised a sum of N150,000 if I participated.”

Also, Kelvin’s wife, Ogechi, told PUNCH Metro that she truly heard the screams of the victim in their toilet but was warned by her husband not to go near the room.

She said, “I did not know it was a businessman they kept inside the toilet. I was instructed not to go there. We have three toilets in the house and they locked him up in one of them.

“Whenever the gang members were around, my husband would ask me to go inside with the children. I did not know they kidnapped the man. I knew my husband as a casual worker. My husband said it was one of his bosses who kept the man there. The only mistake I made was that I did not report to the police.”

The Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Cornelius Aderanti, while confirming the incident, said efforts were on to arrest other fleeing gang members.

“The suspects have confessed to a series of kidnappings within the Lagos metropolis. Efforts are on to arrest other fleeing members,” he said.