How Lagos monarch was kidnapped— wife

Nofisat, wife of the 73-year-old abducted Lagos monarch, Oba Yushau Oseni, Oniba Ibaland, yesterday, said the Oba was kidnapped at about 8p.m. Saturday, when he was about taking his bath.

It was gathered that over 15 mask-wearing gunmen stormed the town. While six of the kidnappers entered the palace, others stood at strategic locations, including the waterways. The policeman attached to the palace had closed from duty by 4p.m. While four of the gunmen took the monarch through the back door, the other two left through the main entrance. Nofisat narrated that the Oba was about taking his bath “when we heard the children in the sitting room shouting. We were both in his room; we left in order to caution the children. But we met the gunmen at the entrance of the parlour.

“They asked him if he was the monarch and he answered in affirmative. Immediately, they left the children alone and took him. I tried preventing his kidnap, but one of the gunmen hit me in the neck and I fell.” It was learned that the young wife went after the abductors, begging to spare him. The gunmen shot her and the 60-year-old palace security guard, Mr. Sunday Okanlawon, who was also trying to prevent the kidnap. It was learnt that some of the kidnappers waited at the entrance of the creek in a boat. A resident, simply identified as Biodun, said that while the kidnappers were escaping with the monarch, they shot sporadically to scare people away.

He said: “In the process, bullets hit two residents, a-yet-to-be-identified commercial motorcycle operator and commercial bus driver, Hakeem Lalupon, who was shot in the stomach while refuelling his vehicle, with number plates AGL-658 XL.” Biodun said the okada rider died yesterday, while Lalupon is battling for survival. He disclosed that Lalupon was rushed to three hospitals before he was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, where the doctors are battling to save him. 

He said: “In the process, bullets hit two residents, a-yet-to-be-identified commercial motorcycle operator and commercial bus driver, Hakeem Lalupon, who was shot in the stomach while refuelling his vehicle, with number plates AGL-658 XL.” Biodun said the okada rider died yesterday, while Lalupon is battling for survival. He disclosed that Lalupon was rushed to three hospitals before he was referred to the Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, Ikeja, where the doctors are battling to save him.

Source: Vanguard