The Osun State Police Command, on Tuesday, said one of the suspected abductors of Prof. Olayinka Adegbehingbe, an orthopaedic surgeon at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, had been arrested.
Adegbehingbe, who was returning to Ile-Ife from Lagos on Sunday, May 5, 2019, was abducted by suspected Fulani herdsmen on the Ife-Ibadan Expressway and was released a day later after the payment of N5.45m ransom.
Parading the suspect, Usman Ladan, from Sokoto State, at the command’s headquarters in Osogbo, the state Commissioner of Police, Abiodun Ige, said Adegbehingbe actually identified the man as one of those who abducted him.
Ige said another of the alleged abductors was arrested while wandering aimlessly in Ikire, while two other suspects were arrested in the Iwo area for other crimes.
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The suspects are Samaila Gede from Katsina State; Kemu Rejuli from Niger Republic; and Jubril Mohammed from Katsina State, who were said to have been apprehended with assorted charms.
The police boss added that four suspected members of the Eiye Confraternity had also been arrested, while planning the annual gathering of the group for July 7, in the Okuku area of the state.
Ige warned that the command would not condone any act of lawlessness, adding that efforts by operatives of the Operation Puff Adder and the support of the various communities in the state had assisted the command in keeping the crime rate low.
Ladan told PUNCH Metro that he was arrested at his place of work in Ikire, where he served as a guard at a filling station.
He said one man came to look at him and later returned after one week with policemen, who subsequently arrested him.
He denied involvement in the abduction of Adegbehingbe.
Rejuli, who was arrested in Ikire for wandering, said he was a herdsman and first came to the town four years ago and resided in the Sabo area of the town. [PUNCH]
