There was pandemonium Friday in a private school in Abeokuta, the Ogun state capital, southwest Nigeria, when the headteacher of the school engaged a kidnap suspect, Sodiq Abiodun,18, in a fight when he was about kidnapping some pupils of the school.
The incident occurred at Nissi Nursery and Primary School, Amolaso area in Abeokuta South Local Government Area of Ogun state.
Narrating the incident to our correspondent, the headteacher of the school, Mr Adeyemi Adeleke stated that if not for the vigilance of the residents, the boy would have made away with some of their pupils who were playing on a field behind the school compound.
According to him,”we were all inside the school busy collating the pupils’ report cards while some pupils were on the field playing football. One of the residents just came in to alert us that a boy is with the children on the field and they suspect him. I quickly rushed down there and enquired from him about his mission.
“He was speaking like a fulani boy and before I could speak further, he had removed a knife with him and we started fighting. He wounded me but with the help of the people in the area, we overpowered him and handed him over to the vigilance group in their office.”
He further stated that the matter was later transferred to Ibara police station by the vigilance group afterr he had made a statement in their office, saying,”the police could not help out as we were told to follow the man to his residence to confirm whether he is sane or not.”
When our correspondent visited the office of the Vigilante Group of Nigeria, Ogun state chapter office at the Old Works Yard in Abeokuta, the camp Commandant confirmed the incident and disclosed that the boy had been taken the police station after interogation.
The Camp Commandant, Mr Tunde Sunday Oshunsi said, “the boy was taken down to our office by some residents of Amolaso and the school headteacher. We discovered that he had been thoroughly beaten with cuts in many parts of his body. We interogated him and since we didn’t have a cell here to keep him, we transferred him to the police station and the police rejected him, saying he had been beaten too much.
“The police advised us to follow him to his house to know his state of health.”
The suspect who spoke with our correspondent in the office of the vigilance group identified himself as Sodiq Abiodun,18, an apprentice shoe maker.
“I am not a kidnapper, my father caused all this.
He has not allowed me to go out in the last four days. He was threatening to kill me and when I found my way to escape, I ran out,” he said.
While asking for his mission in the school with a knife, the young boy stated that he wanted to protect himself from being assaulted by his father.
“I didn’t mean to kidnap anybody. My father lives at Akinoshin compound in Ago Oko area of Abeokuta. My mother is blind while my father is not doing anything than to be beating me and collecting all money on me. That was why I ran out from home.”
A police source from Ibara police station confirmed the incident to our correspondent on phone, saying that the boy had been given back to the vigilance group to look into his matter.
“It was true that they brought the boy to our station, but immediately we saw him with several cuts on his body coupled with the way he was behaving, we advised the vigilante and the school authority to follow him to his residence to confirm the state of his health first before any further steps would be taken,” the police source hinted.
—Abiodun Onafuye/Abeokuta
http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2012/04/05/teenager-nabbed-for-kidnapping/