The Orekoya family actually paid a N2.5 million ransome to rescue their kidnap children

Contrary to earlier claims that the Orekoya family paid the kidnappers who abducted their three kids the sum of N13 million, THISDAY can authoritatively report that the actual figure was N2.5 million.

Mrs. Adebisi Orekoya, had over the weekend, revealed that the family parted with N2.5 million as against the initial N15 million demanded by the kidnappers as ransom. 

Speaking to a group of working mothers in Lagos at the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) Conference and Exhibition Centre, Alausa, Orekoya said:

“When they demanded N15million, I told them that we could not afford it and they later reduced it to N13million but we still told them we could not afford it.

“They then gave me an option of paying ransom for only one kid. They asked me to choose the one I love the most and pay the ransom for his release.

“But how could I choose one and leave any behind? I did not give birth to the three of them in one day. The police told me to keep begging them so that they can be online and enhance the tracing.

“With their calls, the police were able to trace them to Sasha but couldn’t narrow it down to their particular location.

“When they finally agreed to what we had, they sent a GTbank account number to us and we paid in N2.5million as instructed.

“We then sent him a text message that we had paid in the money. He said he would confirm first to know if we flagged the account and then get back to us.

“He later called back by 3p.m. and said he has confirmed payment. He told us to go to Ogijo and pick our kids but when we got there, he said he was already in Sagamu.

“We had someone track his location and it showed he had gone to Oshodi and then back to Egbeda. I and my husband went back home.

 “We were at Anthony, when someone called that they saw our kids naked in front of an uncompleted building. We asked them to snap them and send their pictures to my Whatsapp (a social media).

“When they sent the picture, it was my kids and we called the police to go pick them up. And they did and that was how we were reunited with our kids.”