Blame Game: 'Fashola made me a kidnapper' - Suspect

'Fashola made me a kidnapper' - Suspect

A kidnapping kingpin has confessed to the police that the former governor of Lagos State forced him into crime after his shop was demolished. 

The deadly trio, Ifeanyi Obi, Paul Ibara and Tunde Edu
(Vanguard) 

A notorious kidnap suspect, Ifeanyi Obi, arrested by the Lagos State Police Command has  placed the blame for his sojourn into the crime world on the immediate past governor of Lagos State, Babatunde Raji Fashola, saying the current Minister of Power, Works and Housing, forced him into crime. 

Obi who was paraded alongside two other members of his gang including the leader, Paul Ibara also known as Mopol, and Tunde Edu, after they were recently arrested by the Inspector General of Police Special Intelligence Response Team (SIRT), said the demolition of his shop by the then governor made him take to crime in order to survive.

The suspects were arrested by SIRT after kidnapping a four-year-old boy, Alonge Oluwa Tumishe and collecting the sum of N5 million ransom from the parents of the toddler.
Speaking with journalists during the parade, Obi said: 

"I came to Lagos in 2008. I am not educated. I am from a very poor family. After serving my boss for seven years at Ladipo, my boss settled me with his shop and some money. From there, I started doing my own business.

On December 28, 2012, I was at my village and I got news that Gov. Fashola had demolished our shops. When I returned to Lagos, I couldn’t find any of my goods. A few days later, one of my customers introduced me to Ibara who is also known as Mopol, and we became friends."

"I told him that I wanted to sell my SUV and I needed money to start afresh and that I had lost all my money because I stocked my shop before traveling for Xmas. He introduced me to kidnapping and after our first operation, I was given N700,000 as my share.”