Kehinde Bamigbetan: Kidnapped

The Chairman of Ejigbo Local Council Development Area, Lagos, southwest Nigeria, Comrade Kehinde Bamigbetan, has been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen.

He was kidnapped at about 11p.m. on Monday while he was about to enter his street, Ona Iwa Mimo, Ori-Oke near Egbe bridge in Ejigbo.

A top source in Ejigbo LCDA confided in P.M.NEWS that the kidnappers called Bamigbetan’s wife around 4.00a.m. and demanded for $1 million (about N158 million) and warned her not to inform the police about the incident as they are everywhere.

Bamigbetan was with his driver, Abiodun Olayiwola, in his black SUV with customised registration number Lagos KOK when the gunmen waylaid them.

The former Chief Press Secretary to former Lagos State governor, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, was said to be on his way home from an official assignment when the incident occurred. The matter has been reported at Ejigbo Police Station.

His SUV was badly damaged by an electric pole which stopped it while the driver tried to escape from the gunmen.

All efforts to speak with his wife, Mrs Fatimah Bamigbetan, proved abortive as she was shielded from our correspondent.

His driver, Olayiwola, who managed to escape with bruises all over his body, told P.M NEWS that they were ambushed by at least four gunmen a few metres away from his house.

He said immediately he saw them, he pulled up and put the SUV in reverse gear, adding that they would have escaped from the gunmen if the road was good.

“When I saw them, I put the SUV in reverse gear. They gave us a hot chase and started shooting in the air.

“They would not have succeeded in kidnapping him if the road was good. I tried my best to ensure that we escaped but I was not seeing properly because it was very dark.

“The SUV was eventually halted by an electric pole and we could not procced further. I managed to squeeze myself out of the badly damaged vehicle and escaped.

“I don’t know the kind of vehicle they came with and I could not recognise them because it was very dark,” he said.

ACN Publicity Secretary, Lagos State, Joe Igbokwe, decried the kidnap, saying that “there is no place for kidnappers in Lagos State. The kidnappers should release him in the next 12 hours before we get at them. Nobody does anything funny in Lagos and gets away with it.”

House of Assembly Committee Chairman on Local Government Administration and Chieftaincy Affairs, Moshood Oshun described the incident as unfortunate, adding that it was lamentable that such evil was creeping into the state.

According to him, Lagos had always enjoyed peace and “this is because the state government has been proactive. If the Federal Government was also doing its best like the state government, crime rate in the country would have become a thing of the past.”

He said this situation further underscored their call for the introduction of state police.

The council’s vice chairman, Alhaji Monsuru Bello Obe, declined to speak with our correspondent, saying that there is a directive that they should not speak with the media.

“There is a directive that we should not speak with the media or grant any interview in order not to scuttle investigation into this matter.

“We will speak with the media at the appropriate time. As you can see, we are not in the best of mood for now, please respect our privacy,” he said.

Activities at the Ejigbo LCDA have been brought to a halt as the council workers organised prayer meeting to cry out to God for the release of their chairman, who they described as a good man.

Friends, Action Congress of Nigeria, ACN, leaders, council workers and well wishers who went to the residence of the chairman at Iwa Mimo street, Ejigbo, were prevented from entering the house.