A Fulani man, Iskilu Wakili, accused of being a kidnap kingpin and mastermind of several cases of abduction at Ibarapa zone of Oyo State, has denied his involvement in such crime, asking his accusers to come out in the open with their claims.
Wakili who was arrested by members of Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) in Ayete Town, while speaking with Reporters At Large on Monday, March 8, 2021, at the State Criminal Investigation Department at Iyaganku, Ibadan, said he had never been involved in crime since his stay in the zone for over 20 years.
Rumours were rife on Monday that Wakili was dead, but the Reporters At Large spoke with him at the State CID, where he was being kept in custody by the police.
He said that two of his children were kidnapped in 2020, and he had to pay an undisclosed sum to secure their release.
He said that before his arrest on Sunday, March 7, he had gone to the Republic of Benin to get treated over an undisclosed and had returned to his settlement at Ayete a few days before his arrest.
He said he was at home on that Sunday when he heard women among those living within his settlement shouting that some security members were approaching his camp and were armed.
He said that he told them to run for their lives, but stayed back because he was feeling sick and weak to run.
He said further that two men dragged him out of his hut naked and took him to Igboora police station in their vehicle.
“I fainted several times before we got there. From the police station, we were moved to the State Criminal Investigation Department, Iyaganku, Ibadan.
“I later learnt that my house had been razed and my son’s wife, called Kande, had been shot and killed. She’s lying in the mortuary now,” he added.
He denied knowing anything about kidnapping, only admitting that his cows used to stray into farms to graze on crops.
He added that he should be taken to the whole of the Ibarapa zone to have his records checked, saying that he had never been involved in any criminal matter.
