A 300-level student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Christiana Idowu, was abducted by suspected kidnappers along the Ikorodu-Yaba Road last week.
According to a family source who wished to remain anonymous, the abductors are demanding a ransom of N3 million for her release.
Christiana had left her home in Ikorodu to travel to the University of Lagos in Yaba, where she was undergoing industrial training, when she was taken by the kidnappers.
A source under anonymity said her family was unable to reach her for some time, then the abductors contacted them through her phone, demanding the ransom payment in exchange for her safe release.
The source added that after several appeals from the family, the abductors agreed that a sum of N350,000 be paid to a certain account, which the family paid, but the abductors refused to release her despite the payment
The also source said, “They are communicating with the family through her WhatsApp, and they demanded N3m. We appealed to them, and it was reduced to N1m, then N500,000, and later, they asked that we pay N350,000.
“After we paid the N350,000 ransom, they refused to release her to us and were demanding that we send the bank statement of the account we made the transfer from before they would release her to us.
“We have reported the matter to the police and can not handle it as a family again. We are urging the government and the public to come to our aid.”
When contacted, the Ogun State Deputy Police Public Relations Officer, Folashade Oluwole, said she had not been informed of the incident but promised to get back to our correspondent. She had yet to do so as of the time of filling this report.
Earlier report had it that on August 22 that some youths in Lagos State thwarted an attempted kidnap of a car dealer on Ebute Igbogbo Road in Ikorodu Local Government Area.
It was learnt that the suspects, including Taiwo Olayinka, Azeez Sodiq, and Saheed Moonstruck, had been arrested by the Lagos State Police Command.
A viral video showed the three suspects, stripped and covered in blood, and sitting inside a car while being repeatedly questioned and beaten by the youths who caught them after the failed kidnap attempt.
The command’s Public Relations Officer, Benjamin Hundeyin, confirmed the suspects’ arrest through his handle on X formerly known as Twitter.
Clarifying the incident, Hundeyin stated that the trio were suspected to be either thieves or kidnappers, adding that an investigation was underway.
