Ransom was paid to my kidnappers, says Falae

Former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae, has revealed that contrary to public assumption that he was allowed to go scot-free by his kidnappers; a ransom was demanded and paid for his freedom.

He also disclosed that the police were not the ones that rescued him.

The former Minister of Finance, who spoke to journalists in his home in Akure, did not however mention how much was paid to the kidnappers.

Falae was kidnapped by six Fulani herdsmen last Monday at his Ilado farm in Akure, Ondo State.

“On Wednesday, one of them came and said ‘look we are going to leave here on Thursday morning. Since we cannot leave you here alone, if we don’t get what we want we are going to kill you.

“And they said they gave me until 3pm and if at 3pm they don’t get the money they would execute me. I thank God that at 21 minutes to 3pm, one of them came and said, ‘the money don complete’,” he narrated.

Read also: Breaking… Ex-SGF, Falae regains freedom (Updated)

He said his kidnappers consistently threatened to kill him, deprived him of food and made him to trek bare-footed for almost 15 kilometers as they were changing locations to evade being arrested by police.

“There were six of them with three or four guns and every half an hour or so they will say, ‘Baba we are going to kill you, if you don’t give us money we are going to kill you.

“These fellows were permanently on the move. Day and night they were walking. Through farm lands, through water, through swamps…they were scared; they knew they could be traced with GPRS that was why they were running around all the time.

“They were changing locations at two to three times a day. I suspect because they did not want the police to succeed in tracing them.

“I was not surprised at all that the police could not trace them before they decided to let me go”, the former presidential candidate said.

Giving likely reason for his kidnap, Falae said it could not be unconnected with the face-off he once hard with the Fulani herdsmen who grazed and destroyed his farm.

His words: “The cattle rearers have been giving me a hard time for the past two or three years. Because I have a dam on the farm, so they like to bring their cattle there to drink water, then they eat other people’s crops,” he stated.

“This time they ate up my maize farm, two hectares. We took pictures, and it was videoed, the police went there. They were asked to pay compensation, they begged and paid half of what we claimed and we accepted it.

“That was about two months ago. Whether it was one of them who went to bring his brothers to come and deal ‘with this wicked man’, I don’t know. It is plausible; absolutely plausible”.

Falae , who is 77-year-old, warned that such attack should not be allowed to repeat itself saying it could result to even graver consequences.

“It is not because of me. As for me, I am a very humble person, but by virtue of what God has made me and the status God has given me, it is an insult to our race that a man like me could be abducted by a bunch of hoodlums,” he said.

It would be recalled that different Yoruba groups including the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) had threatened reprisals should anything untoward happen to Falae while he was in captivity.

RipplesNigeria …without borders, without fears

Join the conversation

Opinions

Support Ripples Nigeria, hold up solutions journalism

Balanced, fearless journalism driven by data comes at huge financial costs.

As a media platform, we hold leadership accountable and will not trade the right to press freedom and free speech for a piece of cake.

If you like what we do, and are ready to uphold solutions journalism, kindly donate to the Ripples Nigeria cause.

Your support would help to ensure that citizens and institutions continue to have free access to credible and reliable information for societal development.

Donate Now