Olu Falae Tells How Kidnappers Dealt With Him, Says Full Ransom Was Paid

Oh dear! A former Secretary to the Government of the
Federation, Chief Olu Falae yesterday while receiving a former Chief of Defence
Staff, General Alani Akinrinade, at his home yesterday narrated how the men who
kidnapped him on his farm last week Monday dealt with him and how he almost
lost his life in the process. It’s indeed a sad story for a man of 77. And more
sadly, the elderly man confessed that a ransom was paid, and it was paid in
full. His story;

“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.’

“When the hoodlums came, they slashed me with their
cutlasses; they said I was not cooperating. They dragged me barefooted into the
bush. After dragging me around for about two hours, they stopped somewhere and
asked me to phone my wife and tell her that I had been kidnapped and taken out
of Ondo State and that was a lie.

“It was about 2.30pm on Monday that we started walking with
very few stops until 2am the following morning. I suspect that I must have
covered a minimum of 15 kilometres. That morning, I did not eat anything. So
all day I had no food, no water and I walked close to 15km. How I survived, I
cannot really remember. At some point one of them gave me rubber slippers. We
walked until about 2am. At some point they called for an okada (motorcycle). 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. One of
them brought a small umbrella to cover my head, but the rest of my body was not
covered. They offered me bread, but I told them I could not eat it. I asked for
a bottle of coke, which was what I drank everyday 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.

“The day they said I should go, one of them stitched my
buba, which was in tatters. When I came out of the bush, I was able to find an
okada rider, who took me to Owo. The place was about 10km from Owo town. The
place was between Owo and Ifon. I walked most of the distance from my farm to
that place. 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.’

“It was when I got back home that I became completely
exhausted. But I am now 80 per cent fit and I know that in the next few days, I
will be up again.

“Something urgent has to be done on the part of the
government. This type of things should not be allowed to happen again. 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 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.”

The elderly man also said he suspects Fulani herdsmen were the
ones behind his kidnap because they have had series of clashes in the past.

He said, “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, they like to
bring their cattle there to drink water. The cattles would then eat other
people’s crops, There was a time they ate up my maize farm – two hectares. We
took pictures and recorded it on video and we invited the police. They cattle
rearers 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. 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 could not
protect us and protect my farm, I would protect myself. There will be self help
if the government fails to protect its citizens. It would have been unfortunate
if that were to happen.”