20th September, 2023
By Jethro Ibileke
A 23-year-old kidnap suspect simply identified as Sule, has said that his only regret was that the calf (a young cow) he bought with his N300,000 share of the ransom money earned from the abduction of a farmer died while he was trying to hide it from his father.
The suspect who was born and raised at Okada town in Edo State by a Fulani herder was among 28 suspects paraded on Wednesday by Edo State Police Command for various crimes ranging from kidnapping, unlawful possession of firearms, cultism, armed robbery and defilement.
He confessed to abducting a cocoa farmer in Ogbese village, Ovia North-East local government area of the State, last year, in the company of others, one of whom, according to him, has been arrested and is now in prison.
Sule further confessed that a ransom of N2.3 million was collected from the victim, from which he got N300,000 as his share.
According to him, “My role was that I showed them the roads after we kidnapped him. They gave me N300,000. I used N150,000 to buy small cow, I gave N20,000 to my small friend to buy clothes because he is also working with us to look after cows in Okada town.
“I also bought medicines for the small cow and I used the remaining money to buy shoes and shirts. I kept the small cow with my friend so that my father will not see it and start asking me where I got the money to buy it.
“Painfully, the baby cow died. Now I have been arrested. I regret ever listening to my friends who asked me join them to kidnap the man.”
The State Police Command Spokesman, SP Chidi Nwabuzor, said that the suspects would be charged accordingly after completing the investigation.