A suspected kidnapper identified simply as Seyi, arrested by operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad (AKS) in Oyo State Police Command, has told of how one Alaba, his partner in crime, who is currently at large, convinced him to join a kidnap operation but cheated him of N500,000 out of the N1 million ransom collected from the family of the five-year-old girl they abducted.

Seyi, aged 37, was arrested along with his younger sibling, Elijah, over the kidnap of the little girl, Fikayo, in the early hours of Friday, July 3, while she was asleep beside her siblings in their residence at Iyana Offa area of Ibadan. She was said to have been held hostage for eight days before her rescue on Saturday, July 11, after the AKS operatives had arrested the two siblings earlier on the same day.

Seyi, who claimed to be a timber contractor, also confessed to how, in an earlier operation, he and Alaba conspired, invaded the residence of a blind man, said to be a pastor, and he, armed with a cutlass, dispossessed the man of three phones.

The Police Public Relations Officer of the Command, DSP Olayinka Ayanlade, during a press briefing on the arrest of the suspects on Tuesday, said that on the receipt of the report of the kidnapping, “an intensive, intelligence-led investigation was undertaken by operatives of the Command Anti-Kidnapping Squad, who painstakingly deployed technological and other investigative tools to trace and identify the suspects.

“The sustained operation culminated in the arrest of the principal suspects on 11 July 2026 at about 10:30 p.m. at their hideout in the Mojoyin Molade area of Iwo Road, Ibadan.”

It was gathered that the kidnappers demanded a ransom of ₦10 million for her release, out of which they got ₦1 million at Gbongan, Osun State, on Wednesday, July 8, as part of negotiations with the victim’s family.

“The suspects are currently cooperating with investigators, while efforts are ongoing to recover the ransom already collected and apprehend the other member of the criminal syndicate who is currently at large,” the PPRO had said.

Seyi, who hails from Ikirun in Osun State, said that he was a timber cutter, with his brother, Elijah, also working with him before their arrest. In an interview with Saturday Tribune, the suspect said that it was Alaba who convinced him to commit a crime. He narrated: “I met Alaba, a Kogi State indigene, in Orile Owu, Osun State. He used to follow me as a labourer. Initially, he was a farm worker but said his boss was not giving him a good wage. After some time, he also complained of what I was paying him and left to work elsewhere. I think that was when he knew the woman whose child we kidnapped. Later, he rejoined me and we started working together again. But my wife warned me off him, as she told me that his friends were taking hard drugs.

“One day, Alaba informed me that he wanted to pick something from where he was working. He came on a rainy day and took me to a pastor’s house in a place called Ajiwogbo at Lalupon area. I was well known in the area, and we had once cut trees around the pastor’s house.

“On June 16, Alaba told me that he would want us to go to the pastor’s house to collect his phones. That day, we went to work there, but didn’t go back home. At about 10 p.m., we got there and Alaba removed the window net. I went in through the window, pulling the fez cap I wore to cover my face so that the man and his wife would not recognise me. I held a cutlass to scare them, and saw the pastor and his wife inside. In fear, the wife held her husband. I collected the pastor’s three phones.

“I sold the phone that I got out of the three for N35,000. Alaba picked the second one which he sold for 17,000. He gave me N1,000 out of it. I kept the third one.” He however denied an attempt to rape the pastor’s wife, which he was accused of.

Speaking on how he and the suspect at large planned the little girl’s abduction, Seyi said that they noticed the girl’s mother at a spot where he used to keep logs and wood for sale. According to him, “It was Alaba who suggested the kidnap so that we would get money from the mother. He pointed at the girl on a day she was returning from school and we were taking planks to the usual place. He said he had once worked with the woman’s husband who is a bricklayer.”

How the operation was carried out

The suspect said: “We left Molade-Academy area, where I was living, for Adewumi-Arije area where the targeted family resides. We got there at about 9 p.m., and at about 3 a.m., Alaba went inside to pick the girl. When he did, she looked at his face and recognized him. At about 5 a.m., we took a bike, and on getting to Iwo Road, Alaba said he would take the girl to his aunt’s house. He brought the girl to our house three days later and she was handed over to my sister, whose name is Glory, telling her to help keep an eye on the girl he called his niece. He then gave her N40,000 to get an Easybuy phone when she asked for it. My brother, Elijah, was also put in charge of the girl on the day she was rescued and was given N30,000.”

Seyi admitted calling the mother for ransom but said he was cheated and got only N200,000 from Alaba, who told him the mother brought just N500,000. The suspect said that he later knew that he was given N1 million during a discussion with the victim’s mother.

The second suspect, Elijah, aged 25, who admitted that the victim was kept with him, however said that he was not told that she was kidnapped, but that she was Alaba’s extended family member. Elijah said he learnt house painting as a vocation but had to join his brother, Seyi, in timber cutting when he was not getting any job. He stated that the girl was rescued by the police less than an hour after she was brought to him.

The mother of the five-year-old girl also narrated her family’s agonising experience before the daughter was rescued by the police: “We didn’t know when the kidnappers came into our house. It was on a Friday, and I woke up at 6:20 a.m. to cook for the family. I noticed the place I put my bag was in a dishevelled state. I felt something had gone wrong. I moved into the sitting room where the children slept and saw my missing purse at the doorway. The invoices in it were scattered all over the floor. I woke up the eldest among my children when I didn’t see the youngest. I had believed that she probably came to stay with me and her daddy in the bedroom, but as I looked ahead, I saw a gaping hole behind a settee. I raised the alarm and called my husband’s attention to it. He stood up immediately and started searching for the key. Then, we started looking for our daughter. We then saw that they tried to break in through our bedroom and the kitchen, but were unsuccessful until they got in through the sitting room.

“Neighbours trooped out and started searching nearby bushes and uncompleted buildings, but we didn’t see my daughter. We moved to Iyana Offa Division to report, and also went to a radio station. We were referred to the Anti-Kidnapping Squad office.

“On that very day, at about 12:28 p.m., I got a call with a hidden number. At first, I didn’t pick it, but when I did the second time, the caller simply said: ‘Fikayo is with us, and we will collect N10 million before she is released,’ and truncated the call. He didn’t contact me again until the following day.

On Sunday, he asked of the amount we had been able to gather. By then, he had reduced the ransom to N7 million. I told him that we had got N1 million. He told me to bring it to Osogbo. People came together and contributed money to make up the amount. He told me to bring raw cash, and on getting to the motor park, he called and told me to go to Ile Ife with the ransom. As we got to Gbongan, I got his call again, and he asked me not to go to Ile Ife but should get down at Akinlalu Junction. I did, and stood by the roadside. He asked about the person I came with, and I replied that I was alone. He said I should take a bike ride to Wakajaiye Junction. When I got there, he asked for the type of dress I wore. I told him. He asked if I was the one carrying a polythene bag, I said yes. Then, he asked me to walk down the uneven narrow road. I walked for about 40 minutes. It was very late in the night.

“I got to a river and didn’t know how to wade through. I became so afraid. I started hearing different sounds. I appealed to the kidnapper not to end my life as I had never experienced such a thing. He told me to be calm. Not long after, I saw a bike rider pass through the river, which was a way of calling my attention to its not being too deep. I put my feet in and walked through. I saw another smaller one. He called me and told me that I should put the ransom on a plantain leaf that would be stretched out on the road. About five minutes after, I saw the leaf and put the money on it. I waited for him to come for it but didn’t see him. I turned, but when I looked again, the money had disappeared. I was thinking that my daughter had been dropped ahead of me. As I was almost out, I saw the bike coming again. I even waved it down for a hitchhike but the rider didn’t stop. Then he called and told me that I would see my daughter the following day. But throughout Monday, he didn’t call

“On Tuesday, at about 2 p.m., he did and said I needed to pay more to get my daughter back. I was so pained by the suffering I went through in the middle of the night, only for me to be disappointed.

“They had already collected N1 million, promising to release my daughter the following day. However, they did not but kept disturbing me to bring another N1 million for additional ransom payment, even till about 8 p.m. on the day the man was arrested. I was called by the police at about 10 p.m. that one of them had been apprehended. Not up to 20 minutes later, I was called again that my daughter had been rescued. As they picked her, I was told that she started crying, thinking that another person had kidnapped her. The operatives recorded her on video for me to identify her and I confirmed her to be my daughter. I was so filled with joy.”

The Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Ayodeji Abimbola, who commended the professionalism, resilience and dedication of the operatives whose painstaking investigation led to the successful rescue of the child and the arrest of the suspects, reassured residents that the Command remains resolute in its determination to rid Oyo State of kidnapping and other violent crimes through intelligence-led policing and robust collaboration with members of the public. (Saturday Tribune)