How The Police Foiled Femi Otedola's Kidnap

Femi Otedola

Suspects demanded N1bn ransom
The Nigeria Police Force has narrated how it foiled a high profile attempt to kid­nap business mogul Femi Ot­edola.
Suspected kidnappers, who include some members of the country’s uniformed forces, are now in the police net.
The rampaging kidnappers had, last June, attempted to ab­duct billionaire businessman, Otedola.
The kidnappers placed a princely ransom of N1 billion on Otedola’s head - if they had succeeded in pulling off their heist.

The Nigeria Police High Command, which disclosed how they foiled the plot, said that Otedola’s planned abduc­tion was hatched by a rusticat­ed undergraduate, a serving of­ficer of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) and a dismissed soldier.
In a statement released on Wednesday on the attempt­ed kidnap of Otedola, the Force Headquarters, through its spokesman, Don Awunah, said that the suspects, who have been arrested, planned to de­mand N1 billion for his release.
According to Awunah, the suspects were arrested on June 23, 2016, through coordinated intelligence gathering and de­ployment of technical investi­gative tools that spanned sev­eral weeks.
He gave the name of the principal suspect as Ikechukwu Daniel, a 28-year-old indigene of Imo State, who was rusticat­ed in 2010 from the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, for cult-related activities.
Daniel, who the police de­scribed as a computer wizard, confessed to his past criminal exploits in the South West zone of the country.
The Force Headquarters identified the NSCDC serv­ing officer as Adeyemi Kayo­de, 29, who until his arrest, was the Personal Assistant to the NSCDC Commandant in Oyo State.
Awunah said: “The suspect (Kayode) took undue advantage of his office to obtain the GSM number and location of their would-be victim. He hatched the plan on how to kidnap the business magnate to make a de­mand of N1 billion ransom.”
He said the third sus­pect, Ayodele Temitayo, from Ibadan, Oyo State, was the marksman and armourer of the gang. Temitayo claimed that he was dismissed in 2015 from 213 Battalion of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, as a Private.
The police said: “All the sus­pects made confessional state­ments revealing that they had successfully carried out sev­eral high profile kidnappings; two AK 47 rifles loaded with live ammunition were recov­ered from them.
“While efforts are currently being intensified to apprehend other members of the gang and extend investigation to their other criminal enterprise, the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Ibrahim K. Idris, wish­es to restate the commitment of the Nigeria Police Force to clamp down on all criminal ac­tivities across the country and reassures law-abiding citizens that criminal elements would be eventually apprehended and charged to court.
“The IGP urges Nigerians to avail the Police with rele­vant information that will help in the crusade against crime, as such information would be treated with utmost confiden­tiality”.
Awunah was silent on the area and at what stage of the plot the suspects were arrested. He did not also explain why the police kept the incident secret, five months after it happened.