Several months ago, a six-man armed gang abducted an oil magnate from his dredging site on Ado Road in the Ajah area of Lagos State.
The kidnappers transported their victim via speedboat to an undisclosed location using the waterways. To discourage any attempts to rescue the victim, the heavily armed gang fired shots into the air.
The victim’s family was able to raise N42 million, which they converted into $30,000 as per the kidnappers’ demands, along with an additional N100,000 in cash.
This ransom was delivered to the gang. However, three members of the gang—Adelaja Ikuesan (37), Tosin Oke (40), and Oluwabunmi Yusuf (39)—were later apprehended in their hideout after they had divided the ransom among themselves.
Tosin Oke, a suspect known as “old soldier,” expressed profound regret for his involvement in the kidnapping.
Speaking in Pidgin English in a video posted by Vanguard on the X platform, Oke revealed that he was uncertain whether he had been bewitched into joining the gang, stating: “I’m not sure if I was bewitched into joining them. I don’t understand how I became part of this.”
Oke detailed that he received $1,700 from the ransom, which he exchanged for N1.8 million. He used part of this money for his children’s school fees and household expenses, saving the remainder in his account.
He lamented: “I regret getting involved in this; even my family members questioned my involvement because they knew I had never been involved in anything like this before. I used to work as an agent for the police in Zone 2. What could have driven me to participate in something like this?”
