Teacher stops mob from lynching suspected kidnapper

Posted by admin Headlines Monday, June 2nd, 2014

Kingsley Egbejule

A school teacher on Friday persuaded an angry mob not to lynch a middle-aged man who was accused of attempting to kidnap two pupils.

The victim, Kingsley Egbejule, was eventually dragged to the Iponri division of the Lagos State Police Command.

The incident occurred on Apapa Road in the Ebute Meta area of the state around 8.30am when some pupils were on their way to school.

It was gathered that the suspect was nabbed in one of the schools in the area located in a two-storey building.

The residents said the man had been noticed lurking around the area for about two days. It was learnt that after a security man challenged him, he could not give a satisfactory answer, leading to the attack.

Our correspondent, who visited the scene of incident, obtained a video clip from one of the eyewitnesses.

While being interrogated in the clip, the suspect said he was an Itsekiri man and had been around the area for two days to monitor his victims. The few other things he said in the five-minute clip were inaudible as the crowds noisily battered him, dragging him back and forth.

“I am an Itsekiri man. I came to this area since two days ago. I came from Anambra State,” the man said.

Also in the clip, the man was stripped from the waist, while his pockets were emptied. The residents recovered several new twenty and fifty-naira denominations from him. A member of the mob claimed that the suspect wanted to entice the schoolchildren with the naira notes.

An eyewitness, who identified herself simply as Mrs. Idowu, told our correspondent that the suspected kidnapper would have been successful if a security man had not foiled his plan.

She said, “He had arrived very early and had been lurking around their premises. He must have been watching how parents drop their children in the school. Just around 8.30am, he proceeded to the third floor where the pupils were, and was already coming down with two kids.

“Then a security official at the basement accosted him and began interrogating him. Instead of explaining, he wanted to hit the man with a charm when the latter slapped him. That was how we knew he was a kidnapper.

“He had five tribal marks on each cheek, and he was also not wearing any shoes. We also found new 20 and 50 naira notes on him.”

It was further learnt that the man refused to disclose his name to the mob. Efforts to reach the school teacher or security official who caught the kidnapper proved abortive.

Another eyewitness, a shop owner near the school who did not want his name to be mentioned, added that the suspect refused to answer most questions posed at him, pretending to be a mentally-unstable person.

Our correspondent learnt that two weeks ago in the area, residents had also caught a suspected kidnapper, who was said to have confessed that 28 of them had been brought to the area to carry out a similar operation.

The Lagos State Police Public Relations officer, Ngozi Braide, confirmed the arrest of Egbejule, and said the case would be transferred to the State Criminal Investigation Department on Monday (today).

She said, “A case of child stealing was reported by Olusola Souza, proprietor of Pentagon School with a suspect, Kingsley Egbejule, of no fixed address who was rescued and arrested from an angry mob who caught him with a three-year-old pupil. Investigation is in progress, while the case will be transferred to SCID tomorrow (Monday).”

-Punch

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