A witness, Mohammed Buhari, has told the Ikeja High Court how he was called by three men alleged to have kidnapped a three-year-old boy to drop ransom for them at Ojuelegba, Lagos.

The three men in the ongoing trial are Lima Auwal, Abdullah Usman and Seidu Abbas.

The Lagos government had preferred the defendants a two-count charge of conspiracy to kidnap and kidnap.

The trio were alleged to have kidnapped the boy on November 4, 2022, at about 7:30 p.m. on Ajayi Street, Idi-Araba, Mushin, in Lagos.

The witness, while being led in evidence by the state counsel, Titi Adeyegbe, gave an account of how he followed the kidnappers’ instructions to drop the ransom inside a tyre placed by the roadside by a vulcaniser towards Ojuelegba.

Mr Buhari said he drove his boss (Aliu Abubakar), the father of the kidnapped boy, home after the close of work.

Mr Busari said he did not meet Mr Abubakar’s wife and his boss’ brother, Ibrahim, at home as he was told they had gone searching for the missing boy.

He said he joined Ibrahim in searching for the boy and added that they had to sleep on the street until the following morning while looking for him.

The witness said, “Ibrahim and I went to the second street searching, and we were on the street overnight, but the boy was nowhere to be found. My boss went to report to the police, and the following day, I got a text message, which I showed my boss.

“The message was, ‘Your son is with us, we needed $3,000 and N200,000′. I later got a call and the voice said, ‘Oga, na we carry your son’. I asked if I could speak to the boy and they obliged me.”

The witness further told the court that the alleged kidnappers called him on Sunday and told him they would tell him where to get the boy if he was ready to pay the ransom.

According to him, he informed the alleged kidnappers in Hausa Language that he had only been able to raise the sum of N200,000, but they insisted he should make it N700,000.

He said, “I later told the man on the phone that I had raised N400,000 and he said he would tell me where to get the boy that I should follow their instruction.

“When I got the money, I put it inside black nylon and I got their call around 7:00 p.m. that I was with some police officers that they would not call again. It was around 10:00 p.m. They called again and asked if I was ready to bring the money, so I got to Iyana bus stop on their instruction.

“I was told to go to the front of Lagos University Teaching Hospital (LUTH) and move towards Ojuelegba Road and then told me to put the money inside a tyre by the roadside. He then told me to go left and get the boy.”

The witness, however, said he did not see the boy, and he passed out thereafter.

He said he did not know what happened to him as he only woke up in front of his house and saw people gathered and he was summoned to a police station.

He remembered that the second defendant (Mr Usman) had previously asked him to show him the phone number they used to call him, but he refused.

While being cross-examined by the defence counsel, Rukayat Owolabi, the witness insisted that the phone number used to call him began with 08024, that he could not remember the full number, and that he was a witness of truth.

The prosecution also informed the court that the nominal complainant petitioned the police over his incessant attack on the community.

The nominal complainant, the father of the boy, had, on February 7, recounted the ordeal his son went through at the hands of the alleged kidnappers.

He said the boy’s life had not been normal since then, as he was traumatised when he returned from the kidnappers’ den and could not speak well.

He told the court that the police arrested them with the ransom they collected from his driver.

Justice Adenike Coker adjourned the case until May 8 for continuation of trial.

Ms Coker ordered that all parties involved should maintain peace in the community.

“The case is in court. You must maintain peace,” Ms Coker said. 

(NAN)