Mr Lukman Aliyu, a middle-aged man based in Ilorin, Kwara State, is now heaving a sigh of relief.
According to a report by The PUNCH, the man is currently heaving a sigh of relief after selling his car and other belongings at giveaway prices and putting his two houses up for sale to raise ransom for his two children kidnapped from his home.
Aliyu’s two children; Muideen and Abdulkadir aged 15 and 12 respectively were kidnapped by armed men dressed in military camouflage on October 13, 2022, from their home at Aseyori area, Alagbado, Ilorin in the Ilorin South Local Government Area of the state.
The incident was the third in two weeks in the developing area where two men were killed and five teenagers abducted.
The incidents caused panic among landlords in the area which made some of them move out of the new site, while others put their property for sale and relocated to other areas in the Ilorin metropolis.
A record from the state police command showed that kidnappers invaded the residence of a trader at Ojatuntun Baboko area of Ilorin at Gaa Osibi area of the town identified as Tunde Aribidesi, shot him dead and kidnapped his two children; Jamiu and Sambo aged 12 and 15 respectively on September 29, 2022.
The kidnappers used Aribidesi’s mobile to contact his family members and demanded N10m ransom. But the two children escaped from the kidnappers’ den while they were asleep in the forest.
One of the children said, “The kidnappers used the phone of our late father to contact our family for N10m ransom. But we escaped from the bush when the kidnappers were sleeping and we arrived at our house early in the morning on Sunday.’’
A friend of the deceased identified as Lawal Taoheed said that he solicited prayers for the children’s safety while negotiation for ransom was going on.
