A Federal High Court in Ibadan on Thursday admitted in evidence a detailed phone conversation where a suspected kidnapper, Abubakar Abdulazeez, demanded N20 million ransom from the relatives of the businessman.
Justice Nkeonye Maha received the phone conversation alongside other evidence tendered by the Department of State Service DSS)’s witness, Mr Tunde Afolabi.
Afolabi had in his testimony stated that Abdulazeez made a series of phone calls to the family of the businessman to negotiate a N20 million ransom for his release.
He also tendered the SIM card, the dual Itel 14 phone and the letter written by the defendant as evidence before the court.
“Our latest investigation about Naima, Abdulazeez’s biological sister who is the original owner of the phone used in negotiating the ransom, is that she has now married and relocated to the northern part of Nigeria,” Afolabi said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the witness had in February testified that the DSS swung into action after receiving a distress call on March 7 2024 that the businessman was kidnapped on the Agoare-Saki road.
“After taking the businessman away, the kidnappers made frantic effort to his relatives for ransom using phone no; 09046861705.
“On March 9, the relatives paid a ransom of N20 million in a Town known as Banni in Kwara State.
“Then, we began a technical analysis of the phone number as well as that of the Itel phone used.
“We traced both the number and the phone which is a small Itel 14 dual sim to Naima, the defendant’s younger sister who live in Agoare, Oyo State.
“Upon interview her, she confirmed that the phone and the sim card belonged to her and that she had borrowed her brother who requested for it sometime in February 2024.
“Naima further said that the defendant recently returned the phone and the sim to her after which he went back to Kwara State.
“With this information, we did further analysis and discovered that the defendant was indeed in Banni, Kwara State and we arrested him.
“Just before the businessman was kidnapped, he threw away the Eyephone Promax 13 with him away into the bush in order to hide his identity as a wealthy person.
“We later tracked the phone and discovered that it was in Saki and further investigation revealed that it was a student of the Polytechnic of Saki who was using it.
“Upon his arrest, the student confessed to have bought it at the cost of N190,000 from a Togolese farmer known as John Jerimiah.
“After his arrest, Jerimiah told us that one Abubakar Fulani gave him to sell.
“When we arrested Fulani, he stated that he picked it up very close to the scene of the abduction,” Afolabi explained.
Subsequently, the judge adjourned the matter until July 8 for the continuation of trial. (NAN)
