Tope Ismail was dashing to the market to buy some things. The market was a trekking distance to her house. But she was so much in a hurry; hence she flagged down and entered a bus. That was the last everyone saw of her.
When Tope Ismail escaped from the kidnappers’ den four days after she was kidnapped for ritual purposes, her joy and that of her parents and well wishers knew no bound. She, however, never knew that her abductor would be apprehended and brought to book so soon. But, a man identified as Paul is currently in police custody helping the law enforcement agents unravel the alleged kidnap of Ismail and about 10 others for ritual purposes.
The said Paul, whose neighbours claimed has no particular job, was alleged to have connived with some other men, now at large, to abduct Ismail and other people for ritual. During the incident, Ismail miraculously escaped from the kidnappers den and eventually found her way back to her Somolu, Lagos residence albeit days after. Before dusk on Tuesday, January 21, 2014, Ismail, a resident of Anu Oluwapo Street, in the locality, reportedly left her home for the popular Yaba market to pick up some food stuffs.
A short distance from her street, Paul was washing his commuter bus. Moments after he was done with washing the bus, Paul reportedly put the bus on the road picking passengers as he went along. Apparently trying to meet up with the traders at the market before the close of the day, Ismail flagged down the unmarked commuter bus at Oja Oba bus stop close to her house and jumped inside. It was reported that about 10 other passengers were also inside the bus. Ismail would later disappear from her home for the next couple of days while all access to her mobile telephone was blocked.
She, however, turned up four days later but not until she had to escape from a dungeon she and the other passengers were ferried to by the driver of the commuter bus she boarded to Yaba that fateful day. She later recounted that while the bus sped towards the Morocco Road end of the area, most of the passengers lost consciousness and could not remember anything, neither could they recognise anyone that passed by the bus they were in. They, however, regained their consciousness only after the bus had taken them far out of Lagos State.
Tope, in a chat with reporters and investigators, claimed that all of the passengers in the vehicle were taken to a hideout and were welcomed by men with all kinds of charms all over their bodies. “When we all alighted from the bus, one of the ritualists used an object to touch our chests, but when he got to me, he became furious and angry.
He shouted that they should return me back to where I was picked, saying my spirit does not fall in tandem with the purpose they wanted to use me for,” Ismail said. Hence, she was let off the hook and she reportedly walked many kilometres in the bush before she eventually found her way to the main road where she begged commuters for rides until she got to Lagos.
Days after she returned to the warm embrace of her family and friends, Ismail was walking pass Sodeke Street in Somolu and noticed Paul, the driver of the bus that took her to the unknown dungeon. Paul, it was gathered, did not recognise the woman again. After she was convinced that the man before her was the driver of the bus that whisked them away, she then raised the alarm, yelling at the top of her voice.
Apparently realising that trouble was nigh, Paul reportedly took to his heels but the woman gave him a hot chase and still yelling at the top of her voice. Eventually, Paul was apprehended by passersby and law enforcement agents at Onipanu Police Station were called to the scene. Paul was later whisked away to the station.
It was reported that during preliminary investigation, law enforcement agents followed him to his room and parlour apartment for a search, but the confessions of his neighbours helped to nail the suspected abductor. It was gathered that his co-tenants wondered the kind of work he does, as they claimed that sometimes, he would leave home to come back months after.
It was also discovered that he possesses a Sienna Sport Utility Vehicle and the bus he uses for commercial purposes. Paul was said to have feigned ignorance of the woman’s allegations against him, but further evidence showed that the woman actually rode in his vehicle that fateful afternoon.
Paul has since been charged with kidnapping and stealing, but residents are still unhappy with the hurried charge against him, saying that the matter deserves further investigations so as to unearth his accomplice.
Mr. Kayode Onasanya, who witnessed the whole scenario, wondered why the police had to rush the suspect to court knowing full well that such cases abound that had not been uncovered by the investigators. Onasanya believed that the case would have been properly investigated before being taken to court.
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