DSS parades pastor, 2 women, 10 others over kidnapping in Ekiti

The Ekiti State Police Command and the Department of State Service (DSS) have arrested a man who said he is a ‘pastor,’ Mr Babatunde Balogun; two women and 10 others as suspected members of kidnapping syndicates that have been terrorising Ekiti State and its residents in the last three months.

DSS operatives

The security agencies, which paraded the arrested suspects at the DSS office in Ado Ekiti, the state capital, on Monday, also declared four persons wanted in connection with kidnappings that became an issue in Ekiti State in May, with the police and the DSS urging the Ekiti and general public to give useful information that could lead to the arrest of the other suspects.

Those the DSS and police said were wanted and still at large are: Kenneth Felix Ozoh, Jonathan Ozoh, Kehinde Adeleye and Sunday Ogunleye.

According to the security agencies, they were suspects in the kidnap of a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Dr Femi Omisore, an incident in which his driver was murdered; and a priest of the Catholic Diocese of Ekiti, Reverend Father Emmanuel Akingbade, among other recent kidnap victims in the state.

The security agencies alleged that ‘Pastor’ Balogun was giving spiritual counselling to the suspected kidnappers and alleged further that he was getting a share of the ransoms they collected.

Parading the suspects on Monday at an event witnessed by Governor Ayodele Fayose, the Director of DSS in the state, Mr Duke Fubara, and the Police Commissioner in the state, Mr Etop John James, said the suspects had made statements confessing their involvement in the crime.

Fubara added that one Gbenga David, a.k.a Oruma was accosted by his men in Osun State during investigations and was shot while making efforts to escape the scene and is now receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital.

Fubara added that the synergy among the security agencies was fruitful and was intended to rid the state of miscreants and crime.

Fubara said: “We could all attest to the fact that the kidnappers terrorised the state from the first week of May this year. Their activities brought a lot of trauma to the people. Though, some of the victims have been released, but we did not give in. We did investigation and we increased our network and the result is what you are seeing today.

“What we found with the composition of these suspects was that some of them were members of the inmates that escaped during the November 30, 2014 jailbreak in Ekiti.”

Also speaking, James said the anti-kidnapping squad of the command was “working round the clock to prevent resurgence of kidnapping in the state.”

Fayose appealed to opposition to stop politicising kidnapping and other criminal acts, saying “it is a collective fight. We have to fight this together so that all of us can sleep with two eyes closed.”

DSS parades pastor, 2 women, 10 others over kidnapping in Ekiti