Ondo monarch, Onikun of lkun, Mukaila Bello was abducted by the kidnappers along Owo/Ikare Road on August 4, after his driver was shot in the head
By Kehinde Okeowo
The leader of the kidnap gang, who abducted Ondo monarch, Onikun of lkun, Oba Mukaila Bello, has escaped with a large sum of the N4m ransom paid to his gang for the release of the king.
According to the five gang members, their leader only disclosed that N2 million was paid, and gave each of them N200,000, meaning the leader, who is on the run, took N3 million.
The suspects paraded at the State Police Command in Akure, include Ilyasu Lawal, 27; Mohammadu Abubakar Sidi, 26; Garuba Bature, 36; Abubakar Dangy, 20, and Mohammed Mosere, 25.
Onikun of lkun and some others were kidnapped at about 6:30p.m around Ago-Yeye, along Owo/Ikare Road on August 4, after their driver was shot in the head.
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The other victims were a former House of Assembly candidate for Akoko North-East Constituency Yèyé Gbafinro; a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Adeniran Adeyemo, and a community leader, Bashiru Adekile.
The abductors initially demanded N200 million from the families of the victims, but later settled for the sum of N4 million, which was raised by the people of Ikun community and taken to the kidnappers by a relative of one of those kidnapped.
However, luck ran out on the gang and they were nabbed by the police who paraded them on Thursday, August 18.
Abdul Muritala, who took the ransom to the gang leader, told the public while the kidnappers were being paraded that he paid N4 million to the gang leader before the victims were released.
It was after the statement that the other angry suspects, who were shocked, learnt that the ransom was N4 million and not the N2 million their leader declared.