Chief Olu Falae, former Secretary to the Federal Government, who
was kidnapped on Monday September 21st by suspected fulani herdsmen and
released on Thursday September 24th, has confirmed that a ransom was paid by
his family members for his release.
Speaking to journalists at his home in Akure, Ondo state today
Sept. 28th, Falae said his abductors threatened to kill him on Wednesday
September 23rd at about 3pm if the ransom was not paid but thankfully
20 minutes to 3pm, his abductors came to him and told him "the money
don complete".
"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’.”he said
Narrating how he was
kidnapped, Falae 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, 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. 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 would not look like a lunatic while
leaving that place. 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.”he said
He decried the level
of insecurity in the country
“It is not because of
me. As for me, I am a very humble person, but by virtue of what God has made me
and the status God has given me, it is an insult to our race that a man like me
could be abducted by a bunch of hoodlums. By the way, one of them told me, he
said, ‘Baba, if after you leave us you talk nonsense I will come and catch you
again’. That is the kind of insult I received. Only two of them could speak
some English. They were between the ages of 25 and 35. They were Fulani, they
spoke Hausa.”he said
According to Falae,
his kidnap is not unconnected with a clash with some Fulani herdsmen who
consistently grazed at his farm.
“The cattle rearers
have been giving me a hard time for the past two or three years. Because I have
a dam on the farm, so they like to bring their cattle there to drink water,
then they eat other people’s crops. This time they ate up my maize farm, two
hectares. We took pictures, and it was videoed, the police went there. They
were asked to pay compensation, they begged and paid half of what we claimed
and we accepted it. That was about two months ago. Whether it was one of them
who went to bring his brothers to come and deal ‘with this wicked man’, I don’t
know. It is plausible. Absolutely plausible. My view is that this is my home. I
have not gone to farm in any other person’s territory. This is my home where I
was born. I have every right to farm here and live in peace here. So, this is
totally unacceptable. I once told the Commissioner of Police that if he cannot
protect us and protect my farm, that I will protect myself. There will be
self-help if government fails to protect its citizens. It would have been
unfortunate if that were to happen.
The IG met me and
gave me assurances that they will give us protection. I hope that we as a
community in Ondo State and in Yoruba land as a whole must go into consultation
to ensure that we enhance our protection. We cannot be slaves in our own
territory. These fellows were permanently on the move. Day and night they were
walking" he said
