Fresh details have emerged on how suspected members of a kidnap gang allegedly abducted the sister of a former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu, Mrs Olaide Busayo Adegoke, and her twin sons in Ibadan, Oyo State.
The suspects, arrested by operatives of the Force Intelligence Department-Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) and other tactical teams of the Oyo State Police Command, were said to have played different roles in the operation carried out on June 3.
Among those arrested were the alleged gang leader, Adewale Abolarinwa, also known as Oloro; Segun Balogun, also known as Alawaye; and Dare Oyedele, popularly called Solution.
The victims were rescued last Saturday from where they were held at Lako community on Ayegun-Olomi Road, Ibadan, following a directive by the Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Rilwan Disu.
Balogun, a commercial driver at Iwo Road Motor Park, Ibadan, allegedly confessed that he used his driving skills to convey the gang members during the operation.
According to Nigerian Tribune, he said he had known Oloro for over 10 years through the transport union before he was later approached to join the kidnap plot.
“Oloro asked me if Adelabu still had a mother, and I said yes. He asked me where she was living and I told him. He said I should take him to the place,” Balogun said.
According to him, after showing Oloro the house, the gang leader revealed that he planned to kidnap either Adelabu’s mother or a child from the family.
“The reason he gave was that he was broke. He asked me to join him also, pointing out that I was also broke and just driving without making much money. He promised to pay me well and I agreed to join him. My role was to drive the vehicle used for the kidnap operation,” he added.
Balogun said the gang went into action on June 3 after Oloro called him a day earlier to inform him that the operation would be carried out.
He said four of them were in the vehicle used for the operation, adding that three others wore masks while he drove.
“As Oloro saw the targeted car, he asked me to follow it, then directed me to swerve and block it at the front. He and two others got down and bundled the mother and the children into our operational car,” he said.
Another suspect, Oyedele, popularly known as Solution, was said to be an automobile electrician known around Orita Challenge, Podo and nearby areas of Ibadan.
Police sources said Solution allegedly handled surveillance for the gang before the kidnap.
The gang reportedly began planning the abduction on May 5 by monitoring the compound where the twins lived, the school they attended and the vehicle used to convey them.
In intercepted communications, Solution allegedly described the children’s school as expensive and well-equipped, while also giving information about the family’s residence and movement.
Solution, who said he was 43 and from Ishara Remo in Ogun State, admitted knowing Oloro for about a year.
He said, “Oloro was initially a member of OPC but was expelled after the kidnap case he had back then. I heard about him from OPC members. He later went to Lagos but used to come to Ibadan.”
According to him, Oloro later invited him into the gang and asked him to follow him around in his car during movements he did not fully understand at first.
He said Oloro brought a Toyota Corolla to his house at Podo on June 2, adding that two pump-action guns were inside the vehicle.
“During the operation, three of us – Oloro, Kelechi and I – used masks. Alawaye did not use a mask because he sat in the car. Oloro gave me an axe to hold. He and Kelechi held the two pump-action guns,” Solution said.
He added that Oloro allegedly broke the side glass of the victims’ vehicle before the woman and the children were moved into the gang’s car.
Police sources said Balogun first came under suspicion when operatives looking for Oloro contacted him because of his known relationship with the alleged gang leader.
While speaking with the operatives, he was reportedly seen trying to delete information from his phone.
The officers were said to have checked the phone and discovered messages relating to an alleged gun purchase involving Oloro.
