Edo Police parades 23 Old man, Two others

THREE suspected young kidnappers are presently cooling off in a detention cell at the Edo State Police Command headquarters in Benin for allegedly plotting to kidnap Prof. Joshua Unuigboje at Sabon Gida, Owan West Local Government of Edo state.

The suspects, Adamu Aminu, 23 from Kaduna state confessed that he connived with his two accomplices, Prince Diepriye Samuel, 19, a native of Rivers state and Ovie Raymond, 23 from Delta state to kidnap the emeritus professor and demanded N7.5m as ransom because his parents were poor.

Adamu told journalists that his own father worked with the university don who was very good to him but he decided to cash in on the present predicament of his father’s boss to rip him off his money.

“It was the work of the devil and I am not a kidnapper. All that I said to him was just a mere threat and I did not mean it. I am harmless.

With tears welling in his eyes, Adamu said that he came up with the idea of the kidnapping and enlisted Diepriye who helped to type the text message while he was on a visit to Portharcourt, Rivers state while Ovie helped to secure a Turkish account number where the money was supposed to be wired to.

“I told the Professor of his present condition of his desire to be crowned as a king in Saboginda-Ora and that many persons were against him.

“So I said to myself that if we can come up with some ideas as to try to convince him that we are working with his opponents to stop him from being crowned unless he pays us the money we asked for.

“The Professor Emeritus was a good man to me. He has never punished or tortured me but I was not that comfortable living with him.

“He was a nice man to me but my parents were poor and I was not able to raise money to further my education after my secondary education. That was why the idea came into my mind,” he said.

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The Commissioner of Police, Mr Babatunde Johnson Kokumo disclosed that Adamu’s father was a security guard Unuigboje’s house and was responsible for the suspect’s upbringing right from his childhood until he travelled to Rivers State to arrange for his kidnap.

The police boss added that for being unruly, Adamu was expelled from school in Saboginda-Ora but the teacher felt he could still be reformed and for that reason, he got another school for him.

He said that ironically the kidnap suspect turned around to arranged with members of his criminal gang in Rivers State who hatched a plot to kidnap him for a handsome sum.

Kokumo noted: “They have equally directed the professor to pay the equivalent sum of N7.5m into Turkish account made available for that purpose. It will interest members of the public to know that Aminu’s father remains a security man in the professor’s house.

“Aminu was taken to the professor’s house when he was a baby and the professor took responsibility of sending him to school and even when he was thrown out of school, at a point, the professor still looked for another school for him.”