Christopher Osoba, a Personal Assistant to a man, Abayomi
Ogunbiyi, kidnapped his son, a 21-year-old Olamilekan Ogunbiyi, for two years. He
perfected the crime with his friend, one Emmanuel Okenze, aka Coach.
It was learnt that Abayomi had sought to get his son to
travel abroad when Osoba volunteered to help. He linked up the family with
Okenze, who claimed to be a travel agent. The victim’s father was said to have
paid Okenze, N900, 000 and N300,000 at different times to facilitate the travel.
The men, with some other suspects, were said to have connived and kidnapped the
victim.
A police source said, "In August 2013, the boy’s father
asked his PA (Osoba) to accompany the boy to the airport. They indeed got to
the airport. But they cast a spell on him and he lost his mind. They asked the
boy to go to Coach’s (Okenze) house. They ordered him around and he could not
reach his family again. Meanwhile, they had told his father that the travel was
successful and they started collecting money from him under the pretext of it
was being sent to Olamilekan."
Meanwhile, each time the father asked to speak with his son,
they lied to him that Olamilekan could not be reached where he was. The
syndicate was alleged to have collected different sums from the family.
The source said, "Sometime in June, the boy regained his
consciousness. He got a phone with which he contacted his father and narrated
his ordeals. His father could not believe that his son was still in Nigeria."
The police were said to have been alerted, leading to the
arrest of Osoba and Okenze. Police investigations revealed that the suspects,
and others who were at large, had allegedly collected more than N6m from the
victim’s father.
The police arraigned them before an Ebute-Meta Chief
Magistrate’s Court on seven counts of kidnapping, stealing, obtaining money and
accessories after facts. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges. The
matter was adjourned till July 22, 2015.
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