Domestic Workers: Driver, houseboy arrested over schoolboy kidnap

The Nigerian police command in Lagos State, Southwest Nigeria has arrested two persons in connection with the kidnap of two-year old school boy, Emmanuel Alonge.

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, Panti, arrested the driver of the Alonges, Mr Gabriel Olajubu and the houseboy, Stephen, who were suspected to be the brain behind the kidnap of the boy.

Olajubu was said to have been employed as driver over a year ago while Stephen was employed seven months ago.

A source disclosed that the police nabbed the driver on Monday after he gave confusing account of how the boy was kidnapped. The driver was alleged to have claimed that the kidnappers gained entry into the Lexus jeep X470 with registration number Lagos LSD 374 AV by hitting the glass with stones, “But we later found the stone in the vehicle,” a family source said.

He was also said to have told the police that the kidnappers went through Sango up to Papalanto in Ogun State whereas, the abductors headed towards Ikorodu in Lagos. The housemaid was arrested and taken to Panti on Tuesday. She was alleged to have received some sensitive phone calls from suspicious source.

Father of the boy, Olusegun Alonge said he had suspected the houseboy because of his strange behavior after the incident.

“At about 7:30pm on Monday, I noticed strange change in the houseboy. I suspected him. Later, I asked every domestic staff to relocate from the Boys Quarters to the sitting room, as well as submit their phones on the centre table.

“At 3.00 am, they called the houseboy and we immediately suspected that such call must be our leeway, we asked him not to discuss with the caller in his language but he spoke his local language to tell them that the people are still here, not knowing that one of us understands it.

“We scolded him and asked him not to repeat it again because we knew they would repeat the call and when they did, he had tactically kept away to hide himself, but we forced him to pick his call; he again spoke his language to tell them that ‘people are still here,’ that was when we were all convinced that he was the insider for the job,” he explained.

Alonge alleged that Stephen was almost confessing before the police came. “He was almost confessing before he left here because he asked us to call one Andy and Ekene to help us in finding my son.”