The kidnapped Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area (LCDA), Lagos, South-West Nigeria, Comrade Kehinde Bamigbetan, is now a free man, News Express can authoritatively report.

“Yes, it’s true he’s been released. I’m actually heading for his house,” Bamigbetan’s close friend Muyiwa Akintunde told News Express on phone some minutes ago.

Bamigbetan was said to have been released by his abductors in the wee hours of this morning. It was not clear if any ransom was paid to secure his freedom. After he was taken away late on Monday night, Bamigbetan had called his wife Fatima early the next morning to say that his abductors had indicated that he would be released only on the payment of $1 million (about N155 million).

The radical Bamigbetan was a journalist before going into politics. He was Special Assistant on Media to ACN National Leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, as at the time Tinubu bowed out as Lagos State Governor after concluding his two terms on May 29, 2007.

•Photo shows Comrade Bamigbetan.