How I was kidnapped by one of my customers

A 34-year-old man, Mr. Shola Balogun, revealed how he was allegedly kidnapped, but narrowly escaped in the Abule Egba area of Lagos.

Balogun, who digs boreholes for a living, told Punch that he was allegedly kidnapped last week Friday, November 7, by a customer he had never met before, identified simply as Babatunde.

Balogun further claimed that Babatunde lured him into an apartment on Jola Osho Street in Abule Egba, where it dawned on him that he had been kidnapped.

After Balogun’s escape, he reported the incident at the Meiran Police Division.  A customer, identified simply as Sunday, had earlier called Balogun on the telephone, and had urged him to speak with Babatunde, who reportedly wanted to sink a borehole in his house.  He alleged that Babatunde, who is said to be about 60 years old, lured him into one of the rooms and locked him up.

He said,

“I had not met the man before. It was Sunday who linked me up with him and said he wanted to dig a borehole. So, the man took me to the house on Friday.

“As we entered the building, he began to show me the rooms. Then, when we got to the kitchen, he said the door was not opening, and I should help him use the keys. When I turned the keys and the door opened, he bolted it behind me quickly.

“When I asked him what he was doing, he simply replied, ‘Do you know who I am?’. At that point, it dawned on me that I had been kidnapped.”

 Balogun added that he later managed to climb the ceiling, and noticed an opening on the roof, where he forced his way out.

“I was crawling through the ceiling with difficulty until I saw an opening on the roof, where I forced myself out. When I came out about an hour later, the man, obviously shocked to see me, ran, telling the people around that I was mad, and they should not pay attention to whatever I was saying.”

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Kenneth Nwosu, said a case of kidnapping had not been established as investigation was still ongoing.

Punch