Pa Lawal, who was abducted in front of his house at Ede over a month ago said his abductors almost used him for ritual purposes.
Pa Muftau Lawal, the father of the member of Osun State House of Assembly representing Ede North State Constituency, Adewunmi Kofoworola Babajide, has narrated his experience in the hands of his abductors.
Pa Lawal, who was abducted in front of his house at Ede over a month ago said his abductors almost used him for ritual purposes.
According to a Daily Post report, the father of the Osun State House of Assembly Minority Leader in an interview on Saturday in his hometown of Ede said that he was caught unawares on the day he was kidnapped.
Narrating his experience, the octogenarian said, “I was in front of my house in the evening when I saw these people in their numbers. They alighted from motorcycles and some children who were playing beside where I sat, ran away. Some of them said they should burn me alive while some said they should gun me down and I was already scared when one of them said they should pour petrol on me and set me alight.
“Not long after they left, another set of people came and immediately they alighted from the motorcycle, they ordered me to climb the motorcycle. I asked them where are you taking me to? One of them responded, ‘we are taking you to meet your son, Akogun’. Because of my age, my sight is already blurry, I couldn’t see clearly as we were going. But after a while, I noticed we were on the Ilesha route, because that’s my route when I was young.
“I asked again, where are you taking me to and the one behind me said ‘if you ask any question again, we will kill you here’. I stopped asking them questions. We were going at a high speed. Then, it was already dark, so I couldn't see anything again.
“Later, we got to a place, there is a house there and I was asked to go inside. I met an old man with a boy, the man is a herbalist and he welcomed me. Those who carried me to the place left. I saw the herbalist as he consulted his oracle; after many incantations, the herbalist asked me if we have any deity in our family and I told him no, that we don’t have any deity but my wife family has one they do worship which is “Sango”– God of lightening. The herbalist now said, ‘I can see’ as he shook his head. Later, I noticed that he was calling those who brought me to him to come and carry me, that I can’t be used.
“Those who brought me didn’t answer and I was there for weeks before they came back six days ago around 3 am to carry me. As we were going in the middle of the night, I noticed that a car was coming behind us and not quite long, the motorcycle that they used to carry me stopped and I was asked to enter the car. It was the car that carried me to Lokoja in the morning.
“The car, which carried me, after getting to Lokoja, asked about any police station to present myself to them and explain how I got there, which I did. It was there in the station that they contacted some people in Osun to get my son’s phone number. They called him to inform him that I came to explain how I got to Lokoja. It was my son who arranged how I got back to Osun.”
On whether he was attended to by the Osun State police, Pa Lawal said he met with the Commissioner of Police, Olawale Olokode, who asked him questions and later asked one of his men to take his statement before he was asked to be taken to Ede.
He lamented that all he had was burnt down and that the only thing left for him was the attire he had on him, adding that it was a police officer in Lokoja that gave him a pair of sandals that he wore to Osun.
Pa Lawal therefore appealed to the Nigeria Police to ensure that they find those behind the crisis in Ede and bring those who kidnapped him to justice.
In August, controversies broke out in Ede when Pa Lawal’s son, Kofoworola Babajide, was accused of inviting police officers to harass and kill members of his party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) during a ward meeting in Ede.
It was gathered that during the fracas that ensued, two persons were reportedly shot by a police officer. Meanwhile, the lawmaker has denied being behind the crisis. However, he declared his father missing and that his father’s house was burnt down.