The Lagos State Police
Command has apprehended a 37-year-old man, Ajibola Idowu, for allegedly
kidnapping the daughter of his landlord for three years. The suspect was also
said to have forcefully impregnated the victim, Modupe Brown, during captivity. The police told PUNCH
Metro that
after Brown had given birth to the child, Ajibola refused to allow the child
access to immunisation. As a result, the child was said to have contracted
polio disease and subsequently became crippled. Details after the break
Lagos Deputy Police Public
Relations Officer, Damasus Ozoani, told PUNCH
Metro that
Ajibola, was arrested along with his mother, Ebun, who allegedly conspired with
him to commit the act.
He said, “Brown, a 400
level student of Business Administration at the Lagos State University, was
kidnapped by Ajibola who kept her in captivity with his family for “three years
between 2010 and 2013.
“On September 19, 2013,
policemen from Area E Command, went to the Sagamu area of Ogun State to rescue
the victim and also arrested the mother of the abductor, who watched over the
victim. Ajibola was later arrested in the Idumota area of Lagos Island.
“During the three years,
Ajibola kept Brown in three locations -Oshogbo, Osun State, where she
spent six months; Bariga, Lagos, where she spent six months; and Sagamu, Ogun
State, where she spent about two years.
“Ajibola forcefully
impregnated Brown while in captivity. She delivered a baby girl, who later
became deformed as a result of Ajibola’s refusal to have the baby immunised
against the Polio virus.”
While speaking with our
correspondent, Brown described her ordeal in the hands of her abductor as a
journey through the valley of the shadow of death. She said she was abducted at
her father’s house in the Ebute Meta area of Lagos State.
She said, “I can’t even
remember how he kidnapped me. All I know is that he held me captive for three
years. It’s as if I was under a spell. Even when I was going to give birth, he
did not allow me to go to a hospital. The baby was delivered at home and he was
the one giving me medication.
“Even one day, when state
officials came to the area to immunise children, he said he would not allow the
child to be immunised, saying the drugs had been poisoned. Once, when I tried
to leave, he threatened to kill me.”
PUNCH Metro learnt that during her time in captivity, the victim’s parents,
who are retired civil servants, searched hospitals, mortuaries, police stations
and churches for her all to no avail.
The victim’s father, Idowu
Brown, said he had no clue that Ajibola was the abductor. He said, “I never
knew it was Ajibola that kidnapped my daughter. He was my tenant for six years
and greeted me every day. We even used to share jokes. He was aware that I had
been looking “for my daughter for three years but he never said anything.
“When we could not find
her, I reported the matter at FESTAC Police Division. It was in September this
year that we heard from our daughter for the first time. She told us that she
was in Sagamu and my wife went there.
“There we met Ajibola’s
mother. That was how we found out that he (tenant) was the one behind the whole
thing.”
The suspects however denied
abducting the landlord’s daughter. Ajibola’s mother claimed her son and Brown
were lovers, who decided to elope, maintaining that the case was not an
abduction.
She said, “They were
lovers. I never got involved in their matter until the child was born. I went
to stay with them for about seven months to take care of the child, who was
very ill. A few months after I left, they moved in with me at my three-bedroom
house at Sagamu because they had been evicted.
“Ajibola was not staying
with us because his business was in Lagos but I was with Brown “most of the
time. Many times, I would ask her about her parents and when I could meet them
but she kept on giving silly excuses until the day her mother came to my house
with policemen.”
Ajibola, who is into
satellite dish installation, said the plan to elope was hatched by Brown who
paid N200, 000 into his bank account. The money was said to have been meant for
her school project.
He said he could not
understand why she would make such allegations against him.
“I did not kidnap her; we
were lovers and decided to elope. Even when she was at my house, she used to
make calls to her relatives telling them that she was alright,” he said.
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