An Ondo State Magistrate Court in Akure, Ondo State, has remanded Lekan Mustapha, 16, and his guardian, Zulum Yisa, for alleged kidnapping.
During his arraignment on Tuesday, February 28, the teenager told the court that they used biscuits and magical rings to abduct nine children and take them to one Islamic cleric in Ikorodu, Lagos State.
The suspects were apprehended by men from the Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as Amotekun, in February 2023 at Oka-Akoko, the headquarters of the state’s Akoko North-West Local Government Area, and charged with kidnapping.
During the hearing, state counsel O.F Akeredolu informed the court that the defendants were involved in kidnappings and had confessed to abducting up to nine children.
He claimed the crime violated sections 3(ii)b and 6 of the Ondo State Anti-Kidnapping and Anti-Abduction Law, 2010.
Mustapha testified in court that he worked for Yisa, a syndicate member who worked for Alfa in Lagos.
According to him, the Alfa gave Yisa a magical ring that they used to hypnotize the victims.
“I started living with Yisa for survival after my parents died some years ago, and we both came from Ilorin down to this place,” he explained.
“Yisa will give me biscuits to entice the children and lure them to him whenever we want to kidnap our victim. And then he’d use his charm ring to beat them until they were unconscious. We usually transport them (victims) to Alfa (in Ikorodu). We’ve abducted up to nine children.”
The prosecutor requested that the defendants be remanded at the Olokuta Correctional Centre pending the outcome of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ advice.
The Magistrate, Damilola Sekoni, ordered Yisa’s remand at the Correctional Centre in his ruling.
He also ordered that the adolescent be transferred to a juvenile remand facility pending the outcome of the Director of Public Prosecutions’ advice.
He postponed the case until March 28, 2023.
