ABDULLAI Muhammadu, the 67-year-old Seriki Fulani and leader of the Fulani community in Ijebu Ode, who was arrested alongside his eldest child by the police in Ogun State for recent kidnappings

 

ABDULLAI Muhammadu, the 67-year-old Seriki Fulani and leader of the Fulani community in Ijebu Ode, who was arrested alongside his eldest child by the police in Ogun State for recent kidnappings around communities in the Ijebu area, has pleaded innocence, but one of the bags with which ransom was delivered was recovered in his kitchen.

He, however, admitted that he was aware that one of his sons, Bala Muhammadu, is into kidnapping, but that he felt that he had turned a new leaf.

He also insisted that he had no hand in his son’s criminal activities, though they both stay in the same compound.

The Fulani leader also admitted to having taken the wanted suspected kidnapper to the hospital for medical treatment for a month after being released from the correctional centre, where he served a five-year jail term for kidnapping.

The wanted Bala and his two other brothers were reportedly hinted of the presence of security operatives around their family compound and they allegedly quickly escaped through the bush.

A police source said: “After painstaking and intelligence investigation, one of the bags which was used in the payment of the ransom for one of the victims was recovered in the father’s kitchen. One of the children who saw us coming into the community already hinted Bala and his other brothers and they had escaped through the bush.

“It is not only Bala who is into the business. There is also Ndaji and one other and we are on their trail. There was an upsurge in kidnapping in the area after Bala was released from prison. He spent five years in prison for kidnapping.”

Muhammadu Abdullai told newsmen that: “My name is Muhammadu Abdulai. I am a cattle rearer and also a farmer. I have been in Yorubaland for more than thirty years now. I have four wives and thirty children in Yorubaland. I was honoured with the title of Seriki of Fulani in Ijebu Ode by the immediate past Awujale of Ijebu Ode.

“I don’t know anything about the bag that was found in my house. I live in the same compound with my children and wives. I have never kidnapped anybody in my life.”