No hiding place for the Orekoyas’ nanny

Detectives attached to the Special Anti Robbery Squad (SARS) of the Lagos Command yesterday arrested Mrs. Funmilayo Adeyemi, the 35 years old nanny who kidnapped three innocent children kept under her custody.

The detectives who had been on her trail since the incident was reported arrested Adeyemi at Shasha area of Lagos about midnight on Wednesday. Effort is presently ongoing to arrest other fleeing members of the gang, which includes Mr. Adeyemi, husband of the suspect and the suspect’s brother in-law.

Adeyemi kidnapped the three kids identified as Aderomola (11 months old), Adedamola (four years old), and Demola (six years old) penultimate Wednesday. She was said to have disappeared with the children barely 24 hours after she resumed duty at the No. 35 Lawanson Road, Lagos residence of the Orekoyas.

Lagos State Police boss, Cornelius Aderanti, said that the team led by the officer in charge of SARS, Abba Kyari, was able to trace the nanny to her hideout in Shasha after several days of painful surveillance. Information Telecommunication technology was deployed to ensure that the suspect did not escape from Lagos.

Abba Kyari, a Superintendent of Police, was said to have tracked the telephone conversations between the gang and the parents of the kids with which they trail her to Shasha. The police at Shasha also rescued the three children on Tuesday night after the gang abandoned them in a dilapidated house on Fatai Street, Egbeda.

Although, neither the police nor the parents of the children denied paying any amount as ransom to the gang, The Guardian gathered that about N13m was paid to the kidnappers before the kids were allowed to go.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Kenneth Nwosu, who confirmed the arrest, said the Police High Command has been able to fulfill its promise it made to the parents that those behind the crime would soon be nabbed.

“I want to confirm to you that the nanny who kidnapped the kids has been arrested. She was arrested between 9pm and 10pm on Wednesday around Shasha area. We are making frantic effort to arrest other fleeing members of the gang.

“The police team acting on the directives of the Commissioner of Police tracked the gang with bits of information made available to them, we encouraged the Orekoyas to maintain communication with the kidnappers. With the information gathered, the team was able to follow the link to where the nanny was arrested. We know that she did not carry out the crime in isolation. Others are involved and I promise you that in a short while they will also be arrested,” he added.

Nwosu denied knowing if any money was paid to the gang to secure the release of the children. “The police would always discourage families of kidnap victim not to pay any money. It is against international practice. In fact, we are not aware if any money was paid. Anybody who says money was paid will have to explained how and where it was paid,” he said.

According to the suspect: “It was my husband and my brother in-law who pushed me into this. They got the nanny job for me and taught me what to do when I resume. The first day I resumed, I waited for the parents to go out. My madam is a banker, so I took the kids. I put the smallest one at my back and I took them straight to our house.

“When I got home, my husband and his brother welcomed me and praised me for my action. They put a telephone call to the parents and demanded N18million. I told them that amount was too much. The next day, they reduced it to N13million. My mother in-law who lives with us was not happy about the whole thing. I was really unhappy too when I realized that all the dailies have started carrying the news.

“I saw the mother of the children crying in the newspaper and I was not happy. Whatever I am facing now, I deserve it because my action was not only wicked, it was terrible. My husband and his brother have ran away and left me in this situation. I deserve to face the law,” she said and broke down in tears.