MUFTAU Lawal, who is the father of Adewunmi Kofoworola Babajide, the lawmaker representing Ede North State Constituency in Osun State House of Assembly, has recounted how he was kidnapped and how his abductors attempted to use him for rituals.
Lawal, whose son is the Minority Leader in Osun Assembly, was reportedly abducted at his Ede residence in August.
It would be recalled that two persons were reportedly shot by a police officer in a crisis that broke out in Ede.
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Babajide was accused of inviting police officers to kill and harass members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during a ward meeting in Ede.
The Osun Minority Leader, however, denied being behind the killings.
He also disclosed that his father’s house was razed and that he was missing.
Speaking in an interview on Saturday, September 17, Lawal narrated how unknown individuals came to his house on motorcycles and threatened to kill him.
He narrated, “I was in front of my house in the evening when I saw these people in their numbers. They alighted from motorcycles and some children who were playing beside where I sat, ran away. Some of them said they should burn me alive, while some said they should gun me down and I was already scared when one of them said they should pour petrol on me and set me alight.
“Not long after they left, another set of people came and immediately they alighted from the motorcycle, ordered me to climb the motorcycle. I asked them where they were taking me to One of them responded, ‘we are taking to you to meet your son, Akogun’. Because of my age, my sight is already blurry, I couldn’t see clearly as we were going. But after a while, I noticed we were on Ilesha route, because that’s my route when I was young.
“I asked again where they were taking me to and the one behind me said, ‘if you ask any question again, we will kill you here’. I stopped asking them questions. We were going on a high speed. Then, it was already dark, so I can’t see anything again.”
He added, “Later, we got to a place, there is a house there and I was asked to go inside. I met an old man with a boy, the man is a herbalist and he welcomed me. Those who carried me to the place left. I saw the herbalist as he consulted his oracle. After many incantations, the herbalist asked me if we have any deity in our family and I told him no, that we don’t have any deity but my wife family has one they do worship which is ‘Sango’, the traditional god of lightening. The herbalist then said, ‘I can see’ as he shook his head. Later, I noticed that he was calling those who brought me to him to come and carry me that I can’t be used.
“Those who brought me didn’t answer and I was there for weeks before they came back six days ago around 3am to carry me. As we were going in the middle of the night, I noticed that a car was coming behind us and not quite long, the motorcycle that they used to carry me stopped and I was asked to enter the car. It was the car that carried me to Lokoja in the morning.
“The car, which carried me, after getting to Lokoja, asked about any police station to present myself to them and explain how I got there, which I did. It was there in the station they contacted some people in Osun to get my son’s phone number.They called him to inform him that I came to explain how I got to Lokoja. It was my son who arranged how I got back to Osun.”
According to him, all he had was burnt down, noting that the clothe he had put on was the only one left.
He disclosed that the pair of sandals he wore to Osun was given to him by a police officer in Lokoja.
He further appealed to the police to go after those behind the Ede crisis, and also bring to justice those who kidnapped him.
