One time presidential candidate, Chief Olu Falae, who was
kidinapped 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 wound 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