But for the quick intervention of operatives of the Lagos State Task Force a young man would have been lynched to death by irate mob for alleged abduction of a six-month old baby in Lagos.The suspect, Idama Endurance, 31, who lives in the same compound with the tot’s parents on House No. 55, Oshodi Road, Oshodi, Lagos, allegedly took advantage of the family’s unlocked entrance door to sneak into their one-room apartment in the dead night and was on the verge of bolting with the baby when miracle happened.
According to the baby’s 29-year old mother, Mrs. Banke Akinyemi, the suspect surreptitiously sneaked into her room in the mid night and took the baby girl from beside her in the bed
She lamented that the suspect would have succeeded in his wicked act if the baby, Darasimi, had not cried, a development that aroused her, but forced the suspect to dump her and fled.
Mrs. Akinyemi stated that the suspect could not go far before he was apprehended by neighbors, who had formed a wall round him with the aim of lynching him to death.
“The emergence of men of the Lagos State Task Force on midnight patrol saved the situation, as the suspect was rescued from the angry mob and whisked to the agency’s office in Oshodi”, the woman said
Idama, who hails from Obiakuruku area in Delta State, however denied the allegation, and hinged his argument on the fact that he got back home drunk, from a birthday party, in the mid night and had to scale the fence, as the gate was already locked, adding that “it was after I scaled the fence that I entered into their room, looking for the key to the gate, more so that their door was not locked”.
Idama, in his confessional statement to the operatives said, “since I moved into the compound a year ago, I have been eyeing the baby’s mother but had to retreat when our landlady told me she was two months old pregnant”.
Apparently full of praises that he could, after all, live to tell his own side of the story, Idama who claimed to be trading on ‘linen clothing’ materials at Kairo market, Oshodi, however, confirmed that the presence of men of the Lagos State Task Force saved him from being mobbed.
He said his neighbours and passers-by had started beating him for alleged abduction, as everyone passing and heard that he was a kidnapper, was filled with rage and ready to manhandle him.
Meanwhile, in her statement to the police, the landlady of the house, Mrs. Johnson Esther, also a resident of the building, expressed worries at the development but was quick to aver that she had been suspicious of Idama long ago, especially for keeping late nights, and always scaling the fence to gain entry.
While confirming the incident, Chairman of the Task Force, SP Olayinka Egbeyemi, who spoke through the agency’s Public Relations Officer (PRO) Adebayo Taofiq, said but for his men who were on night patrol and got to the spot on time, the story would have been different.
According to Egbeyemi, preliminary investigations conducted by the Agency revealed that the suspect truly went into the woman’s room in the mid night, saying the suspect would be transferred to the Lagos State Criminal Investigations and Intelligence Department, (SCIID), Panti, Yaba, Lagos for further investigations on the directives of the state’s Commissioner of Police, Fatai Owoseni.