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Abducted Church leaders pay N1m, food stuff as ransom
By Ibrahim Adeleke
Two church leaders kidnapped in Ogun State have been freed by their abductors after taking foodstuff, cigarettes and N1 million as ransom.
The two worshippers; the Assistant Shepherd of the parish, Oluwaseun Ajose, and a Sunday school teacher, Dagunro Ayobami were abducted last Monday at the Celestial Church of Christ, Oshofa, Wasimi, in the Ewekoro Local Government Area of Ogun State but regained their freedom on Saturday.
Earlier, they demanded a ransom of N50 million but later reduced it to N10 million last Thursday before they finally settled for N1 million and other items on Saturday.
According to the founder of the church, Oluwatomisin Olugbebi, “They called on Saturday morning and demanded foodstuffs (rice, beans), cigarettes and gin. They said we should pay N1m for the two of them. I pleaded with them that we didn’t even have up to that, but they said they won’t accept anything less than a million.
“When we heard this, the family of the victims sat on how to get the money and they raised a total of N221,000. Thankfully, well-wishers and other church members balanced it up.
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“They did not give a specific location where we should drop the money. They asked to speak to the sister of one of the victims and told her to come to a certain location. When she got there, she called them and they told her to give the phone to the bike rider.
“They told the bike rider their location without disclosing it to her. The bike rider then took her to the location where the money and the requested foodstuffs were dropped. After like 10 minutes, they asked her to come and pick them (victims) up at the bus stop.”
The Ogun State Commissioner of Police, Lanre Bankole, confirmed the release.
He said, “They regained their freedom last night (Saturday) due to sustained pressure mounted by the police on the kidnappers.”
