Man Hires Kidnappers, Kills Brother’s Seven-Year-Old Boy After Collecting Ransom

A man identified as Faruq Seidu has been arrested for allegedly hiring three men to kidnap his brother’s seven-year-old child, Abdulmalik Musa, and killed him after collecting #300,000 as ransom.

According to a report, the Musa was abducted last Wednesday from his parents’ residence at Sabo Ilupeju, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

The Ogun State police command arrested that the 34-year-old and the suspected kidnappers, Hassan Hussein, 30; Habib Nurah, 24; and Muhammed Bello, 42, and they were paraded on Monday at the crime scene, besides the Ogun River, Lafenwa, Abeokuta, where the boy was allegedly strangled and thrown into the river.

It was reported that the suspects took the police to the scene where the crime was committed and the body of the boy was spotted floating on the water.

The spokesperson of the command, Abimbola Oyeyemi, while speaking on the incident described the act as man’s inhumanity to a fellow man.

Oyeyemi noted that the investigation carried out revealed that Seidu hired three friends to kidnap the boy because his brother, who is the father of the deceased, Abdul-hammed Musa, refused to give him money to marry a third wife.

The PPRO further revealed that the suspects had initially demanded #5m ransom, but later reduced it to N300,000 following a plea from the father of the seven-year-old boy.

Oyeyemi added that the incident happened on December 11, 2019, when the parents reported at the Sabo Police Station in Ilupeju, Abeokuta, that the boy had been kidnapped.

The police spokesperson stated that the boy was killed because he recognized his uncle, Seidu, who was afraid of being exposed.

He stated, “This is a breakthrough in respect of an abduction and murder; what happened here is the height of man’s inhumanity to man.”

“On December 11, 2019, a case of abduction was reported at the Sabo Division in Ilupeju, Abeokuta.”

“About 24 hours later, the kidnappers made a request for N5m and we asked the family to play along with them and later they agreed to take N300,000 and after payment, they still killed the boy and threw his corpse in the river.”

“I want to appeal to members of the public to trust nobody, because if a brother could do this to his brother, then who can be trusted?”

“But, I want to sound a serious warning to criminals in the state and I will be borrowing from the words of the governor, who he said hellfire would be more conducive for criminals than Ogun State.”

Seidu while speaking on the allegation leveled against him claimed that he is innocent of the crime.

“I never asked anyone to kidnap my brother’s son, I only saw this one (pointing to another suspect) with the boy on a motorcycle, but I never discussed anything with them; I only greeted them and left,” he stated.

Hussein while making his stand on the incident noted that he was contracted by Seidu to kidnap the boy before he personally killed him because he was recognized by the boy.

Hussein in his statement said, “He is a brother to Alhaji (the deceased boy’s father). He said he wanted to marry a new wife and Alhaji did not want to give him money; so, he asked us to kidnap the boy.”

“After Alhaji gave us the ransom, Seidu came and said he was going to kill his nephew because the boy recognized him and I asked him why, but he never answered me.”

“When Seidu collected the ransom, he handed it over to me after he had removed ₦5,500.”

“He wants to marry a new wife after he lost his first wife and divorced the second.”

“The boy knew Seidu very well; whenever he was in the boy’s house, Abdulmalik would run to greet him. He gave him biscuit before he took him away on the day of the kidnap.”

“He told me that he would kill the boy and he threw his corpse into the river from the bridge.”

Hussein, when asked where he was when the boy was killed, said he did not follow Seidu, he added that he was only informed by Seidu after he had killed him.