Before his arrest by the operatives of the Force Intelligence Department-Intelligence Response Team (FID-IRT) and other tactical teams in Oyo State Police Command, Segun Balogun a.k.a. Alawaye, was known among other drivers at the Motor Park in Iwo Road Area of Ibadan, Oyo State, where he used to convey passengers to their destinations.

Unknown to many, he decided to choose another route to make money. He applied his driving skill to conveying members of a kidnap gang he joined to their operations and taking the victims to the ‘safe house’ prepared for them. This he hid very well until the gang’s cup became full. Alawaye is among the suspects arrested for their alleged involvement in the kidnap of the former Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu’s sister, Mrs Olaide Busayo Adegoke, and her twin sons.

Segun has confessed to how he took the gang leader, Adewale Abolarinwa a.k.a. Oloro, to the house where Adelabu’s extended family members reside, in preparation for the kidnap carried out on June 3.

Segun and one of the men working with a politician (name withheld), revealed how he was approached by Oloro, for the kidnap of the woman and her twin children.

It will be recalled that the kidnap victims were rescued last Saturday from where they were held hostage at Lako Community on Ayegun-Olomi Road, Ibadan, by police operatives following the directive of the Inspector-General of Police, IGP Olatunji Rilwan Disu.

Also arrested were the gang leader, Adewale Abolarinwa a.k.a Oloro, and Dare Oyedele a k.a Solution. It was learnt that Solution was well known as an automobile electrical technician, especially at Orita Challenge area, up to Podo area and its environs in Ibadan. He was also said to have a business where he accommodated other automobile technicians’ workshops. Saturday Tribune discovered that many people who knew him very well are still finding it hard to believe that the same Solution was a kidnap gang member.

According to police sources, the plan to kidnap the twins started on May 5. They mounted surveillance on the compound where the twins live and on the conveyance of the children, to and from school. It was learnt that Solution took up the job of officer in charge of surveillance for the kidnap gang, trailing the targeted twins. Communications between Oloro and Solution, which were intercepted by the IRT operatives, indicated the kidnap gang’s preparedness towards the kidnap operation.

Unknown to the targeted family, Solution knew the school being attended by the twins, he knew the process of opening the gates whenever the car approached the residence of the victims. He knew the make of the vehicle with its tinted side glasses. He observed the smartness of the driver. He knew when the grandmother (ex-minister’s mother) was in the compound.

In one of the intercepted messages, Solution was heard describing the school being attended by the children as posh, equipped with air conditioners and very expensive. Also, Solution, in a chat with Oloro, spoke on how he followed the driver back home to understudy the situation in the environment where the targets were residing, to which Oloro responded that Solution should not allow their plans to drag before they would strike.

Further information gathered about Solution revealed that he owned two buildings within the Ayegun Community and was the one who helped to get the caretaker from whom the gang rented the house turned into a kidnappers’ den. It was also discovered that his younger brother was living in the same area but had fled since the lid of the gang’s atrocities was blown open. During a search, a pump action gun was reported to have been found in Solution’s house, totalling three guns recovered from the gang.

Before the rescue of the victims and arrest of the suspects, information had it that the repeated kidnappings within Ibadan had raised suspicion about Oloro’s likely involvement, prompting a kickstart of intelligence-led gathering of information about him, especially when he allegedly jumped bail after his release from prison for a previous kidnap offence.

Since Alawaye was known to be Oloro’s friend, operatives of the Monitoring Unit, reportedly met and asked him of Oloro’s whereabouts, to which he responded that he had been calling him but had not been able to reach him. However, the operatives’ eagle eyes saw that he was making attempts to delete some information from his phone, which made them snatch it from him to have a look at what he was trying to do. To their surprise, they reportedly stumbled on a message involving the purchase of a gun by Oloro who told Alawaye that the gun seller had refused to give him the weapon after taking his money.

With that, the operatives detained the suspect for investigation, unknown to them that he was part of the kidnapping that occurred a day before he was picked. His involvement was revealed two days after.

Oloro asked me if Adebayo Adelabu still had a mother, and I said yes. He asked me again about where she was living and I told him — Suspect

In an interview with Saturday Tribune inside the cell, Segun, aged 47 and an Ibadan indigene, opened up on his membership of the kidnap gang: “I’m a driver who transports passengers from Iwo Road Motor Park at World Oil axis. I didn’t start the operation with the gang from the onset. I have known Oloro for more than 10 years in our transport union. At a point, he committed some crimes and was arrested and remanded. Later, we heard that he was in Lagos.

“Along the line, he returned to Ibadan. One day, I saw him at Iwo Road Motor Park. It was in 2025. He gave me his phone number and some money. We used to chat.

“On a particular day, the transport union chairman and I were discussing Oloro, wondering what he was doing as a job. Before then, a police officer who had been looking for Oloro had told us that he jumped bail. We called him, and he came to us. We discussed his atrocities with him, and he promised not to do such again. He even placed a curse on himself if he ever committed a crime again.

“Oloro started frequenting the motor park. Then, we started discussing about upcoming elections and campaigns. In 2019, Oloro and I worked for (name withheld). When he did not win (the governorship), I left the motor park.

“This time (2026/27), we decided to work for (the 2019 candidate who did not win), and we used to call one another. However, at a time, he (Oloro) was not responding to my calls frequently as he said he was busy in Lagos. On his return to Ibadan, he stopped coming to the political group’s outings.

“Recently, Oloro moved to the camp (of the man who won the primary, name withheld), but I told them I would stay with (the old governorship aspirant, name withheld). However, that didn’t stop us from interacting. One day, in May, while we sat together, Oloro asked me if (Adebayo) Adelabu still had a mother, and I said yes. He asked me again about where she was living and I told him. He said I should take him to the place. One day we went to Liberty Stadium for (an aspirant’s) declaration. From there, we proceeded to Adelabu’s mother’s house.

“After showing him the house, he opened up to me that he was planning to kidnap the mother or a child from the Adelabu family. The reason he gave was that he was broke. He asked me to join him also, pointing out that I was also broke and just driving without making much money. He promised to pay me well and I agreed to join him. My role was to drive the vehicle used for the kidnap operation.

“On Tuesday, June 2, he called and told me that the operation would be carried out the following day. He described the spot where I would join him along expressway at Soka area. After we met on Wednesday, we left for Podo area where Solution was domiciled. From Podo, we left for Challenge. We were four in the operational vehicle — Oloro, Solution, Kelechi and me. I was the driver while three others were masked. We parked the car for about 20 minutes, waiting for the car conveying the children to school to pass by. Oloro had thought that a driver would be the one with the children. The twins were his target to collect ransom.

“As Oloro saw the targeted car, he asked me to follow it, then directed me to swerve and block it at the front. He and two others got down and bundled the mother and the children into our operational car. I drove the car to Ayegun, got down and left others. My heart was pumping hard. Inwardly, I was so afraid. Since that day till now, I have been unable to eat. I have been drinking water only.”

How I was arrested

“On Thursday, I was called by a police officer and a member of our transport union. I was told to enter the police vehicle. There, I was told that they were searching for Oloro. My heart flustered, but I also knew he had other issues, so I suggested we call him. We did, but he didn’t pick the calls. Later, he sent me a voice note, and the police took the phone from me. They heard other voice notes in which Oloro complained to me about the person he wanted to buy a gun from but who took the money without giving him the gun. That was how the police officers said I knew about gun purchase by Oloro. I was arrested, after which the police got to know about my involvement in the kidnapping on Saturday when Oloro was captured.”

During the operation, three of us, Oloro, Kelechi and I, used masks —Solution

The second suspect, Solution, also told his own story: “I’m aged 43. I’m from Ishara Remo in Ogun State, but Ibadan-based. I’m a member of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC). I trained in rewiring. I have a business named Solution Land Automobile Service. I got to know Oloro about a year ago. Oloro was initially a member of OPC but was expelled after the kidnap case he had back then. I heard about him from OPC members. He later went to Lagos but used to come to Ibadan. I didn’t know how he got my number. He called me and started interacting with me. He was a cab driver in Lagos, and whenever he needed money, he would call me and I would send him some amount.

“He came to Ibadan one day and asked me to meet him at Toll Gate at Ibadan end of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway. He told me that he wanted to move around the city, asking if I could get him a vehicle for about a week. I told him I couldn’t because that day was the first time I was seeing him face-to-face and the car with me was not mine. I was repairing a vehicle’s gear that would need running for a week. However, I said I could go with him to wherever he wanted to go. That was last year.

“He was using his Corolla car for the operation. He bought it at Gbagi area about seven months ago. He informed me about joining his kidnap gang about six months ago, but what he asked me to do was to follow him in my own car. For example, if he was going to Iwo Road, he would ask me to wait at Oremeji area. After a while, he would ask me to make a U-turn. Sometimes, he would just call and tell me to join him at (a popular joint at Podo) or Mokola or another place. Whenever we returned from those places, I would be wondering on the reason for the patrol.

“I knew two people with him then. One of them was TJ who used to come to Ibadan from Lagos. Another one is a commercial motorcyclist at Apata area of Ibadan. I believe he introduced the operation to me when those ones were no longer with him. He said he wanted to use my car, but when he saw it, he told me it was too small. He brought one Toyota Corolla belonging to Kelechi to my house at Podo area on Tuesday, June 2. There were two pump action guns in it.

“On Wednesday morning, Oloro came to my place in his own Toyota Corolla car. The key of the car brought to me the previous day was handed over to Alawaye.

“During the operation, three of us – Oloro, Kelechi and I – used masks. Alawaye did not use a mask because he sat in the car. Oloro gave me an axe to hold. He and Kelechi held the two pump action guns. Oloro was the one who broke the side glass of the car conveying our victims. He opened the door and told me to pick one of the children who sat in the front. Kelechi picked the second child. Oloro was the one who bundled the mother into the car.

“The person who was preparing food for the captives was Oloro’s relative. He didn’t follow us for the operation, but it was as if he was always invited to handle feeding of the victims. Whenever Oloro needed money, he would ask me to lend him. I didn’t know how much was demanded as ransom because it was Oloro and Kelechi that used to go and collect it wherever they told the family of the victims to drop it.

“Before the last operation which I joined, he once gave me N300,000 for following him with my car. He gave me N200,000 at another time.”

How I was arrested

“On Thursday, the day after the operation, I called Oloro, but he didn’t pick my calls. On Friday, it was the same thing. I was disturbed by that but shrugged my shoulders and continued with my life. I was at home on Saturday but later went to Top One to relax. While there, I messaged him, asking for the reason he was not picking my calls, but he didn’t respond immediately. Later he asked me where I was and I told him. He said he would come to join me. That was when police arrived to arrest me. By then, Oloro had not told me the amount I would get as my share of the ransom when paid.

“I don’t know how I got into such a crime. I have a lucrative business. If God can save me from this, I will never venture near crime again.”

Getting Oloro for an interview was a difficult task. He has refused to talk since Sunday when the Commissioner of Police, Olugbenga Ayodeji Abimbola, briefed journalists on how the victims were rescued and suspects arrested, with two of them neutralised. It was learnt that not only has Oloro refused to talk, he also shunned food and water, and was soiling himself with urine and faeces in the cell he was kept in. On Tuesday, Saturday Tribune learnt that he was taken to hospital because of his condition but he refused to respond to doctor’s questions to know the treatment he needed.

Oloro was said to possess many charms recovered from him. The FID-IRT operatives said the charms he possessed were so many that some were even found in his car.

Past kidnap operations

Among the arrested suspects, Oloro had been known to be deep in criminal activities. On September 20, 2022, he was paraded by the Oyo State Police Command after his arrest along with his kidnap gang leader, BJ by the Monitoring Unit. At that time, the duo, with other suspects carried out several kidnappings within Ibadan and Ogun State. In his confession during an interview in a story published in Saturday Tribune on September 24, 2022, Oloro confessed that before he was caught for kidnapping, he had once been arrested for snatching cars at gunpoint which resulted in his being remanded in prison. But, according to him, he secured freedom when he enjoyed what he called “prerogative of mercy” which he claimed was bestowed on him by the judiciary.

After his arraignment for the kidnap, Oloro, who claimed to be a Muslim and Ogun worshipper, and another suspect, Aleshe, were remanded in prison as the matter was being heard in court. However, it was learnt that Aleshe was released on bail on April 26, 2024, because of a contagious disease he had, while it is yet unclear the reason Oloro secured a bail also.

However, Aleshe allegedly returned to kidnapping less than a month after he was granted bail, as he carried out an operation on May 16, 2024. Aleshe continued until he was arrested by the Anti-Kidnapping Squad in Ogun State. A credible source confirmed to Saturday Tribune that Aleshe is still in prison in Abeokuta. (Saturday Tribune)

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