Man hires kidnappers , kills brother's 7-years-old child after collecting N300,000 ransom

A 34-year-old man, Faruq Seidu allegedly contracted three men to kidnap his brother's seven-year-old child AbdulMalik Musa and killed him after collecting a ransom of N300,000.

The deceased was reportedly kidnapped last Wednesday, at his parents' residence at Sabo Ilupeju, Abeokuta by the syndicate in connivance with Seidu.

They were later arrested by men of Ogun state police command and paraded on Monday at the crime scene, besides the Ogun River, Lafenwa, Abeokuta where the boy was allegedly strangled to death and thrown into the River.

The suspects, after their arrest, took the police to the crime scene where the remains of the boy were found floating in the River.

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Abimbola Oyeyemi while parading the suspects described the incident as man inhumanity to man.

Oyeyemi said the three other suspects are; Hassan Hussein, 30, Habib Nurah,24, and Muhammed Bello,42.

He said the command's investigation revealed that Seidu contracted his three other friends to execute the heinous act over the refusal of his brother, the father of the deceased, Abdul- hammed Musa to give him money to marry a third wife.

Oyeyemi further explained that, Seidu and three other accomplices were said to have requested a ransom of N5,000,000 initially, but, later reduced it to N300,000 due to the plea by the father.

According to the PPRO, the incident happened on December 11, when the parents reported that their seven-year-old boy has been kidnapped at the Police station in Sabo, Ilupeju, Abeokuta.

Oyeyemi said the boy was killed because he recognised his uncle, Seidu and the uncle was afraid of being exposed if released.

He said, "This is a case of a breakthrough in respect of an abduction and murder, what is happening here is the height of man inhumanity to man.

"On 11th of this month, a case of adoption was reported at one of our divisions, sabo division in Ilupeju.

"About 24 hours after, the kidnappers made a request of N5 million and we asked the family to play along with them and later they agreed to take N300,000 and after payment, they still killed the boy and throw his corpse into the river.

" I want to appeal to members of the public to trust nobody, because if a brother can do this to his brother who should then be trusted?

" But, I want to sound a serious warning to criminals in the state and I will be borrowing from the words of the governor, when he said, hellfire will be more conducive for criminals than Ogun state."

Speaking with newsmen, the prime suspect, Seidu claimed to be innocent of the kidnap.

He said, " I never asked anyone to kidnap my brother's son, I only saw this one (pointing to another suspect) with the boy on a motorbike but I never discussed anything with them, I only greeted them and left."

Another suspect, Hussein who was Seidu's regular motorcyclist, however, faulted him, claiming that he contracted them to kidnap the boy before he killed him on the ground that he recognised him.

Hussein, 30-year-old pointing at Seidu said, "He is a brother to Alhaji (the deceased father). He said he wanted to marry the third wife and Alhaji does not want to give him money so he asked us to kidnap the boy.

" After Alhaji gave us the money (ransom), Seidu came and said he was going to kill the boy because the boy recognise him and I said why? but he never listened to me."

" When Seidu collected the money (ransom) he handed over it to me after he removed N5,500 from it.

"He wants to marry a third wife after he lost his first wife and divorced the second wife.

"The boy knows Seidu very well, whenever he goes to the boy's house, he will run to greet him. He gave him a biscuit before he took him away on that day.

"He told me that he would kill the boy. He took the boy and threw him into the river from the bridge ."

When asked where he was when the boy was killed, Hussein claimed he did not follow him, saying, he was only told by Seidu after he killed him.