A 31 year old trader, Idama Endurance, accused of kidnapping a six-month old baby girl in Oshodi area of Lagos, has said that he was drunk from a party he attended, jumped over the fence of the compound into the room of the neighbour at 12.00 midnight, but that he did not kidnap the baby.
Idama Endurance from Obiakuruku area of Delta State was picked up by the operatives of the Lagos State Task Force for allegedly kidnapping the baby.
The Chairman of the Task Force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi said that the suspect would have been lynched, if it were not the quick intervention of his men who were on duty.
Egbeyemi said that preliminary investigations conducted by the agency revealed that the suspect who lives in the same compound with the mother of the child, illegally entered the woman’s room at mid-night.
The chairman said that the suspect would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigations Department, Panti, Yaba, Lagos for further investigations on the directives of the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni.
The mother of the alleged kidnapped baby, 29 year old Mrs. Banke Akinyemi, said that the suspect came into her room around mid-night while she was asleep and took her baby besides her.
She claimed that it was the cried of her baby that woke her up and that the suspect immediately dumped the baby and ran outside.
Akinyemi, who hailed from Ejigbo in Osun State said it was her mother who lives with her and other neighbours within the compound who quickly woke up and apprehended him.
“If not for the intervention of the operatives of the Lagos State Task Force who were on a mid-night patrol, the man would have been lynched.”
However, the alleged kidnapper admitted that he drunk from a birthday party which he attended the previous night and that when he got home at mid-night he had to scale the gate as he could not locate the gate key.
“It was after I jumped the gate that I entered into their room looking for a key to the gate as their door was not locked.
“Since I moved into the compound a year ago, I have been eyeing the mother of the child and when our landlady told me she was two months old pregnant then I immediately stayed off.”
Endurance, who claimed to be trading on ‘linen clothing’ materials at Kairo Market at Oshodi, confirmed that other neighbours within the compound and passers-by had started beating him and calling him ‘kidnapper’ before the arrival of the operatives of the Lagos State Task Force.
The landlady, Mrs. Johnson Esther said she was surprised when the matter was reported to her.
She claimed the activities of the suspect looked suspicious as he normally come home late and usually jumped the gate to enter the compound most times.[myad]
