A suspect yesterday relieved how he kidnapped his master’s son in order to get his entitlement from him.
Twenty-three-year old Celestine Chimaobi said he kidnapped Emeka Chukwuyere at Alafia on Orile-Iganmu to force “his father to settle me after serving him for five years”.
He said: “I served my boss for five years at Mandilas (Lagos Island). After serving him, he took me to my village in Imo State and refused to settle me. So, I returned to Lagos and kidnapped his son, so that he would settle me.”
Chimaobi, who said he laid ambush for the boy near the house of his master, who trades under the name of Kasco Ltd., stated that he kept him for four days at a hotel where he worked as a cleaner.
The suspect, who was paraded with his friend, Emmanuel Blessing, 20, said the latter knew nothing about the kidnap.
He said: “I told Emmanuel that the boy was my brother and that he would be staying with me for some days. He didn’t know I kidnapped the boy. He saw the boy when he came to the hotel and asked me who he was. Then, I told him he’s my brother and that he came to spend some time with me. The next time he came, he saw the boy and I told him the boy would leave on Monday. Then, on Tuesday, we met on the road and I begged him to escort me to the bank so that I can collect money from the Automated Teller Machine (ATM). That’s how we were arrested.
“I singlehandedly kidnapped the boy. I wanted his father to pay the ransom and I would use it as my settlement. I worked for him for five years. He’s from Okija in Anambra State and I have been selling clothes for him at Mandialas.
“In the agreement he had with my parents before he took me, he promised to settle me after four years. He started to count my apprenticeship from 2014. In 2016 when he was supposed to settle me, he opened another shop and asked me to be paying him N20,000 monthly. I could not cope because of the recession in the country, so I asked him to settle me as agreed but he refused, rather he sent me back to the village.
“I came back early January and I stayed in a hotel. It was then that the idea of how to kidnap his son came to me. Last Monday around 7:30am, I laid ambush around the house and picked the boy on his way to school. The boy emerged around 7:45am. He came to me when I called him and I took him away.”
The suspect said he was caught on Apapa Road in Oyingbo when he went to the bank thinking that the N5million ransom he demanded had been paid.
He said: “I called my Oga on phone the next day to pay N5 million into my account if he wants to see his son again. I sent him my account number. I was on my way to collect my ATM card from the bank on Apapa Road when I was arrested. I never knew that police were on my trail.”
Police Commissioner Fatai Owoseni said: “After we received the complaint, policemen were detailed to investigate the case. During the investigation, the team discovered that the suspects were on their way to the bank to collect the ransom money. They were arrested while on their way to the bank.”
