Shakirulahi Babatunde, an aide to Osun State Governor Ademola Adeleke, has allegedly kidnapped himself with the aim of extorting the state government.
Confirming the development, spokesperson to the governor, Olawale Rasheed, in a statement on Wednesday, said the state police command is investigating the incident.
Rasheed debunked report that top officials in the Adeleke-led administration are working underground to pressure the police into dropping the matter.
“Our attention has been drawn to a reported case of self -kidnapping by one of the governor’s media aides, Shakirulahi Babatunde. We immediately want the public to know that the police are investigating the matter without any pressure from the state government,” Rasheed said in the statement.
He also debunking rumours making the rounds that the Chief of Staff, Kazeem Akinleye and other top government officials are working to prevent police from investigating the case.
Giving insight into the matter, he said, “It would be recalled that when the media aide sent a text message that he had been kidnapped, an incident report was immediately lodged with the police under the instruction of the Chief of Staff.
The matter was further reported to the Anti Kidnapping Squad of Osun State Police Command which swung into action as a signal of transparency and readiness for law enforcement.
It was therefore falsehood from the pit of hell to assert that the Chief of Staff or any state official was trying to prevent the police from conducting investigation into a matter which the state government originally reported to the police service.
We categorically denied the fake news that there were attempts by the state officials to bribe the police to sweep the matter under the carpet. Such reports are unfounded and baseless conjectures.
Nobody in the government is attempting to bribe the police and the police have not received any kobo from state officials as libelously asserted in a publication.
The police are currently investigating the matter while the state government is also waiting for the outcome of the investigation for further action.
We therefore call on members of the public to ignore any misinformation designed to tarnish the image of state officials or the police as relevant police units are currently investigating the entire episode.
Governor Adeleke and top state officials are committed to transparency and law enforcement. No state official would therefore be involved in preventing law enforcement agencies from exercising their mandate.”
The police is yet to make any public statement on the development as of the time of this report.