Actor aware of my wife’s abduction – Monarch

Dauda

The traditional ruler of Ilusin, a town in Ijebu East Local Government, Ogun State, Oba Oseni Adesanya, has insisted that Ismaila Dauda, a fledgling actor, was fully involved in the abduction of his wife, Adeola.

PUNCH Metro of July 1 had  published the story of how Dauda, currently in custody at the State Criminal Investigation Department, Abeokuta, and four others had abducted the wife of the monarch who was inadvertently referred to as Oba of Ilisan, instead of Oba of Ilusin.

But the suspect had claimed ignorance of the operation, saying he was tricked into it.

“I was not aware that it was a planned abduction. Segun is a close friend and had borrowed my car… I was under the impression that Segun was in search of a suitable school for his teaching practice as he is a student of a College of Education,” Dauda had said.

But Oseni in a telephone interview with PUNCH Metro refuted Dauda’s claims.

He said, “Dauda lied in his account of the incident. In all, a total of five men were involved in the abduction of my wife, although it was four of them who carried it out.

“On that day, they drove to Ilusin Grammar School where Adeola is a teacher. They waited outside for her till 11am.”

Contrary to Dauda’s claims that he had parked his car by the palace, Oseni said Dauda’s car was parked outside the school premises. Dauda who was driving his colleagues was said to have pursued Adeola to the palace when she eventually drove out of the school premises.

“It was Dauda who blocked her car at the palace gate with his own. Immediately, three men came down with guns and dragged Adeola out of her car into Dauda’s car and they sped off.

“A cousin of mine, who witnessed the incident, quickly got into Adeola’s car that was abandoned on the road and pursued the suspects. Other persons, who witnessed the incident, also joined the chase on motorbikes. The community’s vigilante group was informed and they blocked the J4 expressway that leads to Benin,” Oseni recalled.

The monarch said in an attempt to intimidate Adeola, she was beaten and her clothes torn. He added that  Dauda was the one that directed his colleagues to pour pepper into Adeola’s eyes. This was to stop her from looking at him.

Oseni said, “Dauda was well aware of the planned abduction from the very beginning. He was the one who asked that pepper be put into Adeola’s eyes. In fact, someone phoned them while they were still driving and the caller was informed that they had succeeded in abducting Adeola.

“The abductors threatened Adeola. She was told to call my cousin and others and instruct them to call off the chase or they would be killed. Then to scare off those chasing them, they began to shoot sporadically into the air.”

PUNCH Metro gathered that just before the suspects got to J4 junction, a fifth man allegedly drove down to meet them. It was the fifth man who informed Dauda and his group that the J4 expressway had been blocked by the Ilusin community vigilante.

Seeing that the game was up, Dauda was said to have then driven into the bush. All the suspects reportedly fled, abandoning Adeola in the car.

“Adeola was later found by vigilante and police search teams. Dauda’s car is still at Agidi police station as we speak. The car was traced to Abuja where it was supposedly registered only for us to discover that the registration number was a fake. It was the sim card which was left in the car that was used to trace Dauda,” Oseni said.