Breaking : ‘No ransom was paid to the kidnappers. One of The Victim lost his life during an exchange of gunfire between the police and the kidnappers” and we were able to rescue nine Lagos PDP members, Says Ogun C.P

The Police Command in Ogun has rescued nine out of the 10 members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Lagos kidnapped by gunmen last Thursday on their way back to Lagos from Ibadan.

The Commissioner of Police in Ogun, Mr Abiodun Alamutu, confirmed the release at a news briefing in Abeokuta on Monday.

Alamutu named Mr Phillip Aivoji, Chairman of PDP in Lagos, among those freed, regretting, however, that one of the abductees, Bilikisu Kazeem, lost his life during an exchange of gunfire between police and the hoodlums.

Alamutu said that the abductees were freed early on Jan. 29 after four days in captivity.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalled that Aivoji and nine others were kidnapped on their way back from Ibadan around the Ogere axis of the Lagos-Ibadan expressway after attending a PDP meeting in Ibadan.

The police commissioner said that he was not aware of any ransom being paid to the hoodlums before the release of the PDP chieftains.

The police had, on Saturday, claimed in a statement issued on behalf of the command by Mr Omolola Odutola, the Public Relations Officer, that its operatives were making concerted efforts to free the kidnapped PDP officials unhurt.

Alamutu commiserated with the family of 37-year-old Bilikisu Kazeem, who died as a result of the bullet wound he sustained during the incident. (NAN)