How we went into kidnapping business after we came out from prison – Couple

The Wife: Mrs Joseph

“I knew my husband, as far back as 2007. I had a child for him but the child later died of chicken pox.

“Our journey into trouble started when my husband told me that he wanted to go into kidnapping and that he wanted me to have an input into the business. I told him that I saw trouble coming, but he said what I saw was not trouble but a lot of money coming our way. He said he got his inspiration to go into kidnapping from a guy called ID, whom he said had given him N1 million.


“Since I could not convince him to return the money and we were experiencing a lot of financial problems, I told him that I would need a part of the money to open a shop. In March last year, I was sleeping in our house at about 2 am when the police came and arrested me and my husband.

My husband told me to be courageous, saying it had happened and we had to pay the price.

“The Federal Special Anti-Robbery Squad (FSARS), who arrested us, charged us to court. They said I collected robbery money. We were later remanded in prison.

“While I was in prison, my sister came and said one lawyer had arranged how we would regain our freedom. When we came back from prison, I decided to go into petty trading to assist my husband financially.

“I hate trouble, but my husband would not listen. He later went with his friends to go into kidnapping again. My husband called me one day and sat me down. He told me to listen very carefully. He said some friends of his were coming to the house and I should not go anywhere.

“On that fateful day, I was in our parlour between 9pm and 10pm watching the television when he and his friends came in with a total stranger. I asked him who the man was and why they had brought him to the house. I told them I had just left the prison yard and did not want to go back to jail so soon.

“I told my husband to take the man back to where they had brought him from, but he begged me to exercise some patience. It was in the process of exercising patience that I started my role as the food provider.

“I first went to the market to buy ingredients with which I would make good soup. Apart from cooking for the victims and providing water for them to bathe even though their legs were in chains, I also kept them company, cracked jokes with them and made them to have the hope of seeing their families after paying the necessary ransom.

“At a point, I became sympathetic to one of the victims and started planning how to assist him to escape. I was the one that opened the door for him to find his way before my husband and others who were deeply asleep would wake up.

“When he had escaped, I kept the door open and went to fetch water. When I came back, they told me that the victim had escaped. They asked me why I opened the door for him to escape and I told them that I did not know that the door was open because I was hurrying to fetch water. I lied to them because they were very angry over the victim’s sudden disappearance.”

“If I had reported to the police, I would have been thrown into the police cell and it would have been difficult for me to secure my bail because the police would want to use me to arrest other members of the gang,”

HUSBAND: Mr Joseph

“She (Eno) is my wife. We have been married for five years now. Although I am yet to pay her bride price, both of us agreed to be husband and wife. Every other thing is mere formality. The important thing is love.

“I had a workshop before I joined a company on Victoria Island, Lagos. I did automobile engineering. I joined the company in 2006. I left because I was trained as an installation agent but there was no money there. Hence, I joined another company also on Victoria Island.

“At a point, I became frustrated with my job because my company could not generate enough money to pay its staff. It was in that mood that one Idon Eseng aka ID, a taxi driver, met me and introduced me to kidnapping.

“ID told me that if I could bring a victim from the company where I was working, I would get big money to take care of myself and my wife. That was how we arranged the kidnap of one Mr. Adebayo, a director in the second company where I worked. I was the one who identified the director. The man’s relations later paid N13 million but my share was one million naira.

“I later bought two vehicles with the money. I bought one bus for commercial purposes and one SUV for pleasure ride. Then my enemies saw me and became jealous. They reported me to the Commissioner of Police, Lagos State Police Command, Umar Manko, who immediately ordered the O/C SARS, Abba Kyari, to fish us out.



“I know my jealous friend who reported me, because when I came back, I found that when he asked me to give him N500 to drink beer, I told him that I had no money. He said he heard that we did one job that paid, but I insisted that I had no money. He then vowed to inform CP Umar Manko or O/C SARS SP Abba Kyari.

“I was arrested in March last year and taken to SARS office. I was later charged to court. The case that took me to court was that of the Federal SARS. I spent about eight months in Ikoyi Prisons. While I was in the prison, one of the inmates introduced me to a lawyer and I followed his instruction. He said he would assist me to come out.

When I came out, I started looking for job. I moved out from where I was living in Oshodi because I knew that if we were reported to SARS, their first port of call would be my house. I moved from 3, Oremeji Street, Oshodi to 42, Matokun Road, Lambe, Ogun State.

“There I called a friend in prison, named Emma, a native of Akwa Ibom State. I asked if he knew anybody who could get me a gun for a job we had in our hand. He linked me up with one Mr. Joseph who came with a locally made gun in company with two other men.

“So, we went to Okota in Lagos where we got the victim in his car. His car attracted us because it showed that the man was wealthy. We followed him to his house. As he wanted to go into his house, we approached him, showed him the gun and he melted. What we did next was to order him to enter our own vehicle, a Nissan Sunny car.

“Out of the four of us, three went in to ransack the house. We brought the man out of the house, seized his Samsung handset, N2,000 cash and his car. We later took him to my house on Matogun Road, Okearo, Ogun State.

On our way, we gave him dark glasses to wear because we did not want anybody to identify him. It was at about 9 pm. We chained him in the leg and kept him inside. It was one of our members called Joseph who negotiated for ransom between the family and the gang. Joseph was on the phone contacting the family

“The victim stayed in my house for six hours. My wife was giving him food and water to bathe. The victim was able to escape because we were sleeping while watching. How he removed his chains and opened the door is still a mystery to us.

“All of us left the place immediately and relocated because of his escape. I called my wife and David. The house is a two-bedroom flat. I rented it for N65,000 per year in September.” He Said.