Yesterday, an Ikeja High Court heard testimony from a witness, Mohammed Buhari, regarding how he dropped money for kidnappers in Ojuelegba, Lagos State.
Buhari gave evidence yesterday before Justice Adenike Coker at the ongoing trial of three suspects – Lima Auwal, Abdullah Usman and Seidu Abbas – alleged to have kidnapped a nine-year-old boy.
The trio allegedly kidnapped the boy on Ajayi Street, Idi-Araba, on November 4, 2022. They were arraigned on a two-count charge of conspiracy to kidnap and kidnapping.
During resumed proceedings, Buhari gave an account of how he received a call from the kidnappers and dropped money for them at Ojuelegba. The witness said he followed the kidnappers’ instructions and dropped the ransom inside a vulcanizer tyre placed by the roadside towards Ojuelegba.
Led-in-evidence by the prosecution counsel, Ms Titi Adeyegbe, the witness said after he closed from work, he drove his boss, Aliu Abubakar, home. Abubakar is the kidnapped boy’s father.
According to him, they didn’t meet Abubakar’s wife and brother, Ibrahim, at home. He said they were told they went looking for the boy since he didn’t return from school on Friday.
He also joined in the search and they slept on the street till the following morning.
“Me and Ibrahim went to the second street searching. We were on the street overnight yet we could find the boy. Then my boss went to report to the police.
“The second day, in the morning, I got a text message and I showed my boss. The message said ‘your son is with us, we needed $3,000 and N200,000. I later got a call and the voice said, ‘oga na we carry your son’. I asked if I can speak to the boy. He gave the phone to the boy and I asked how he is to which he responded fine.
“They didn’t call me again till Sunday morning. They asked if I am ready to get the boy. They said they will tell me where to get the boy and asked how much I had gotten of the amount they demanded. I said N200,000, and they said it was too small. I beg them but they insisted on N700,000. We were both speaking Hausa and I told them I had gotten N400,000.
“About 10pm, they asked if I was ready to bring the money. I got to Yana bus stop on their instruction, and then they described the cloth I wore. I was told to go to the front of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH). He told me to move towards Ojuelegba road and drop the money inside a tyre by the road.
