Why I joined kidnappers – Suspect

A man, James Melayi (35), arrested over alleged kidnapping of a female teacher, Lillian Ofonsare, in Ologbo community in Benin City, has said that he joined two other persons for the kidnapping of the teacher in order to raise money to repair his engine boat.

Melayi, whose accomplices were at large, who was paraded by the Edo State Police Command, said, “One Godwin contacted me for the operation, and because I needed money to repair my boat, I joined them.

“We went to the school and waited for her, as she was going home, we accosted her with a double-barrel and cut-to-size gun and kidnapped her.

“We took her through the bush path to the Ologbo River and used a boat to carry her to a hideout and demanded N5m ransom.”

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The spokesperson of the command, Chidi Nwabuzor, said, “We received a distress call that one Lillian Ofonsare, a school teacher, was kidnapped from the classroom when teaching her students at the Ikara Primary School, Ologbo, by hoodlums who emerged from the bush.”