Three arrested for kidnapping and killing Lagos businessman

The Lagos State Police Command has arrested three men -Ogbuesor Sadiq, Abdulwahab Mutairu and Adenola Lanre- for the alleged kidnap and murder of a businessman, Akinsanjo Akinlade. Akinlade was alleged murdered in Ogijo, a border town between Lagos and Ogun states on August 31, 2012. According to police authorities, the suspects kidnapped, killed Akinlade and dumped his body in Ogijo. It was learnt that the suspects ransacked their victim’s apartment and dispossessed him of jewellery, laptop and other valuables.

The suspects later abducted the man, drove him in his car to an unknown destination from where they called his wife to demand for a ransom of N200, 000. The spokesperson for the state police command, Ngozi Braide, said, “When they demanded for ransom from the deceased’s wife, she insisted on speaking to her husband in order to get directive as to where to source for money. However, the kidnappers stopped all communication.”

One of the suspects, Mutairu, said he plotted the kidnap of the deceased. He said, “My job was to fish out for well-to-do persons around Ikorodu, monitor their movements and get back to the gang. Then, one day, I saw the man driving a jeep and followed him to his house. “I reported to them and they asked me to monitor when he always came home. I monitored him thrice and discovered he was always coming in at a particular time and informed the gang.”

Mutairu, who claimed the gang did not plan to kill the businessman, said the kidnap turned awry when he (Akinlade) attempted to escape. He said, “As we all sat in the bush waiting for response from his wife, we heard footsteps of people passing by and he raised the alarm. “I held his mouth to prevent him from shouting but he kept struggling and in the process, Sadiq started cutting him with a machete and at a point, he became motionless. When we confirmed he was dead, we all left.”

During investigations, the police were said to have obtained the call logs of Akinlade’s wife’s phone from which they were able to trace one of the suspects, Ogbusor, to Edo state. Ogbusor was said to have revealed the location of other gang members to the police.

The suspects reportedly confessed and took the policemen to where they killed the Akinlade. His corpse was found in decomposing state. The suspects also confessed to have kidnapped one Sekiru Yusu and attempted to kidnap another person in Ikorodu before they were arrested.