Former Secretary to Government of the Federation (SGF), Olu Falae, on Monday, admitted that his family paid ransom to his abductors before he was freed on Thursday.
This is even as former Chief of Defence Staff, General Alani Akinrinade, on Monday, described Fale’s abduction as a big insult to the Yoruba nation and called the Federal Government to find a solution to the incessant activities of kidnappers which are gradually using the South west as an abode.
The former SGF made the disclosure when the former Chief of Defence Staff visited him at his Oba Ile residence, in Akure, the Ondo State capital.
He said the kidnappers only freed him after they received payment, adding that he trekked for 15 kilometres before he was picked up by the police in Owo, several kilometres from Akure, the Ondo State capital.
Falae, who was kidnapped and released last week, provided shocking details of his ordeal at the hands of his abductors, narrating how he was deprived of food and made to trek several kilometres to freedom.
The Afenifere chieftain said he was kidnapped by six Fulani herdsmen last Monday at his Ilado farm in Akure.
Falae, who spoke to journalists in his home in Akure, said the armed hoodlums threatened to kill him every 30 minutes until they received information that money had been given to them as demanded.
He said: “There were six of them with three or four guns and every half an hour or so they will say, ‘Baba we are going to kill you, if you don’t give us money, we are going to kill you.
“On Wednesday, one of them came and said ‘look we are going to leave here on Thursday morning. Since we cannot leave you here alone, if we don’t get what we want, we are going to kill you.”
“And they said they gave me until 3pm and if at 3pm they don’t get the money, they would execute me. I thank God that at 21 minutes to 3pm, one of them came and said, ‘the money don complete’.”
Giving details on how he was kidnapped, he said: “When the hoodlums came, they slashed me with their cutlasses, they said I was not cooperating. And they dragged me barefooted into the bush.
“After dragging me around for about two hours, they stopped somewhere for us to rest and there they asked me to phone my wife and tell her that I have been kidnapped and taken out of Ondo State by car which was a lie.
“It was about 2.30pm on Monday. We started walking with very few stops until 2am the following morning. I suspect that I must have covered a minimum of 15km. That morning I did not take anything. So all day I had no food, no water and I walked close to 15km. How I survived I cannot really remember. I had no food in my stomach, I had no shoes, and my clothes were torn to shreds.
“At some point, one of them gave me a rubber slippers. We walked until about 2am. At some point they called for an Okada. At about 2.30am, the Okada man took me way down I had no clue where we were going. Finally, they dumped me somewhere, where I was until I was released on Thursday.
“In that place, we all slept on the floor on leaves, unfortunately the rain came in the night and I was thoroughly drenched where I was lying down. One of them brought a small umbrella to cover my head, my head was covered, but the rest of my body was not covered.
“They offered me bread, but I told them I could not eat it. I demanded for a bottle of coke, which was what I drank every day to have the requisite strength to survive and to continue on the march, because they were permanently moving.
“They were changing locations at two to three times a day. I suspect because they did not want the police to succeed in tracing them”.
He noted that although the confirmation of the payment of ransom was made on Wednesday afternoon, he was not allowed to go until Thursday morning.
“So the following morning, they said I should go. One of them took ropes to stitch my buba which was already in tatters, so that it could at least stay on me and I wound not look like a lunatic while leaving that place,” he explained.
“So when I came out of the bush, I was able to find an Okada, a man riding bike, who gave me a lift to Owo.
“The place was about 10km from Owo town. The place was between Owo and Ifon. And I walked most of the distances between my farm to that place and as the farrow flies, that is about 25km that we had to trek.
“As I said miraculously I was not tired, I was not hungry and I was not afraid of them at all. Each time they said, ‘Baba we will kill you,’ I will tell them, ‘no, insha Allah, you will not kill me’.
“I did not break down, but I want to tell you that when I got back home, I became completely exhausted. But I am now 80 per cent fit and I know in the next few days I will be up again.”
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