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| Matthew Kuye |
One year after his family paid N60,000
to his kidnappers, Matthew Kuye, a trailer driver at Dikon area of
Kirikiri, Lagos is yet to be found.
Kuye, a married man with six children,
was last seen at Jimoh Odutola Street, Surulere on January 18, 2012,
where he and some of his colleagues had gone to offload containers of
goods.
Continue reading after the cut...
It was learnt that Kuye and his
colleagues were told that their vehicles could not be offloaded that
evening. He subsequently settled his motor boy for the day and set out
for home.
His son, Israel said, “That was the
last time anyone saw him. My mum and siblings tried my father’s number
throughout that night but his phone was switched off. I was in Ogun
state at the time for my National Youth Service Corps compulsory
service.
“My family eventually assumed that he
was with his colleagues. It wasn’t until my father’s colleagues called
my brother the following morning, asking for his whereabouts that we all
realised that something was wrong.
“We made a report at the Bode Thomas
Police Division immediately. A week later, my siblings began to receive
telephone calls from some strangers who demanded a ransom of N80,000 if
we wanted to see my father again.
“They took pains to describe my father’s
appearance to my siblings and even our house at Oshodi to convince us
that they knew us.
“My elder brother, Samuel, negotiated with the people and they later agreed to collect N60,000 from us.
“My brother did not involve the police
in the negotiation because he feared that my father would be killed.
Instead, he explained his predicament to the bank. They offered to help,
but suggested contacting the police. Samuel declined.
“Eventually, he paid the money but my father was not released the next day as promised.”
A copy of the teller made available to PUNCH Metro
showed that Samuel had paid N60,000 to a Mainstream Bank account
0032864210518 with the account name Odewuni Teslim Adewusi on Feburary
8, 2012.
Israel said after several frantic calls
to the kidnappers’ phone number, which were ignored, it became clear to
the family that they had no intention of releasing Kuye.
The distraught family eventually went back to Bode Thomas police division to update them on the kidnap.
From the information given by the bank,
police traced the owner of the account to a residential address at
Ebutte Metta. However, the police was unable to make any arrests because
the account holder was said to be an infrequent visitor to the place.
Since then, the family members said they had been living on hope and prayer for the return of their breadwinner.
Israel said, “Initially, the
investigative police team communicated with us regularly but that
changed as time went on. They stopped answering our calls. When I
completed my service in March, I went to MTN head office because the
number being used by my father’s kidnappers was an MTN number. I
explained my family’s challenge and asked for help in tracing the
kidnappers’ location.
“I was told that such information could
not be given to an individual, and that I needed the police to step in. I
went back to Bode Thomas division and pleaded with them to work with
MTN. The policemen there told us not to worry, saying they did not need
MTN’s help. They said all they needed was in the bank teller Samuel used
in paying money into the kidnappers’ account. That was in March 2012.
Since then, we have been stuck. No word from the police or my father’s
kidnappers.”
The Lagos State Police Public Relations
Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police Ngozi Braide, said the police
were still investigating Kuye’s disappearance.
She said, “Kuye was last seen at Eric
Moore. Some persons who claimed to have him in custody called after his
disappearance asking for N60,000 which the family paid without the
knowledge of the police.
“We believe that some persons, who are
known to the family and who want to exploit them, are responsible for
Kuye’s disappearance. No kidnapper demands N60,000 as ransom. The police
were able to obtain the mandate of the account through the teller used
to pay the ransom.
“They traced the address that was
provided in the account details and discovered the address to be fake.
It was just an uncompleted building in Ebute Metta. However, the police
have not lost hope and investigation is still ongoing.”
-Punch
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This is sad...some Nigerians are evil.
We pray and hope that God will touch the heart of these terrorist (kidnappers) to kindly release
Mr kuye to the family.
Share your thoughts...thanks!
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