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| Alleged suspects, Baale of Shangisha, Chief Yusuf Ogundare (right), with his brother and accomplice, Mohammed Adams (left), being paraded during a press briefing at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Thursday, July 13, 2017. |
The Lagos State Governor,
Akinwunmi Ambode, on Thursday approved the immediate suspension of the Baale of
Shangisha in Magodo, Yusuf Ogundare, for faking his abduction.
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| R-L: Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni (2nd right), addressing journalists on the Alleged Fake Kidnap of Baale of Shangisha in Magodo, Chief Yusuf Ogundare at the Lagos House, Ikeja, on Thursday, July 13, 2017. With him are Attorney General & Commissioner for Justice, Mr. Adeniji Kazeem (middle); his counterpart for Local Government & Community Affairs, Alhaji Muslim Folami (2nd left); Operative of DSS, Mr. Wale Odu (left) and representative of Director, DSS, Mr. Uche Okechukwu. |
The
alleged fake kidnapping took place on July 5 along Centre for Management
Development, CMD, Road in Ikosi-Isheri Local Council Development Area, LCDA, of
the State.
In
a memo with reference number OLGAS.83/S./Vol.1 dated July 13, 2017, addressed
to the Sole Administrator of Ikosi-Isheri LCDA and signed by the State’s
Commissioner for Local Government and Community Affairs, Teslim Folami, Mr.
Ambode directed Mr. Ogundare to stop parading himself henceforth as the Baale
of the community till further notice.
Mr.
Folami, quoting the memo, said: “I am directed to convey the approval of His
Excellency, Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of the suspension of Chief Yusuf
Ogundare, Baale of Shangisha with immediate effect in accordance with Section
38 subsection 1 of the Obas and Chiefs Laws of Lagos State which states that
“the Governor may suspend or depose any Oba or chief whether appointed or after
commencement of this law, if he is satisfied that such suspension of
disposition is required according to customary law or is necessary in the
interest of peace and good government.
“You
are to communicate the decision to the chieftain to stop parading himself as
Baale of Shangisha with immediate effect.”
Mr.
Ogundare’s suspension was approved by the governor moments after the Lagos
State Police Command paraded him alongside his younger brother, Mohammed Adams,
for conspiring to fake the alleged kidnap.
Mr.
Adams, on the fateful day, reported the alleged kidnap incident to the police.
Speaking
while parading the two suspects, the State’s Commissioner of Police, Fatai
Owoseni, said the Command on July 5 received the report of Mr. Ogundare’s
alleged kidnap, and immediately swung into action in collaboration with other
security agencies especially the Department of State Service, DSS.
Mr.
Owoseni said luck however ran out on Mr. Ogundare when he was apprehended by
men of the Rapid Response Squad, RRS in Alausa area of the State on July 11
after he was dropped in a suspicious manner by a car which sped off
immediately.
Giving
details of how Mr. Ogundare was apprehended, Mr. Owoseni said: “On July 11 at
about 10 p.m., a team of RRS patrol officers working around Alausa had sighted
a vehicle drop a male adult in a suspicious manner close by Shoprite along the
Secretariat road.
“The
speed with which that car drove off attracted them to that spot and fortunately
before they got to the spot, the car had taken off and a quick enquiry revealed
that it was the Baale that was allegedly kidnapped.
“Immediately
afterwards while Ogundare was being debriefed, he sold a dummy that the
kidnappers dropped him off but unknowingly to him, it had been found out that
on the 5th of July, the day he was allegedly kidnapped in Lagos, investigation
had revealed that he was driving around in Ibadan around Ashi; he went to
Ilorin, he went to Iwo, he was just on a frolic.
“And
unknowingly to him as well, his younger brother and his wife were being
questioned and were actually in custody because of some discrepancies that were
noticed in the interaction they had with security agencies, and in furtherance
of the synergy existing between the Police and DSS, we jointly compared notes
and our findings were such that the act of the chief was despicable and
amounted to crying wolf where there is none.”
He
said while making reports, Mr. Adams had told security agencies that he was
with the Baale at CMD Hotel when some people who claimed they wanted to buy
land whisked them away and later dropped him.
But
investigation, Mr. Owoseni continued, revealed that he (Mr. Adams) was not at
any time in the hotel with the Baale but was only at the restaurant of the
hotel, and after some minutes left. The police said the wife of the Baale
actually drove the Venza car allegedly used to abduct her spouse.
The police commissioner
said the suspects confessed to the crime after interrogation.
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