It wasn’t meant to be lavish or anything elaborate – but even the quiet celebration that the septuagenarian would have had with just his family members and close associates, amidst prayers, was scuttled and messed up by his abductors.
Born exactly 77 years ago, on September 21, Nigeria’s former Secretary to the Federal Government, under Gen. Ibrahim Babangida, rtd, and one-time Minister of Finance, Chief Olu Falae, would have been rejoicing and thanking God for the gift of yet another year when the enemies struck. And took him away forcefully.
Falae, also the Traditional Ruler of his place, had gone to his farm to see how his crops were doing when he was allegedly kidnapped by some Fulani herdsmen. Some of his workers who were around sustained various degrees of injuries.
Now, his kidnappers are asking for N100 million ransome before they will release him. Meanwhile, the little things being arranged to usher him into age 77 have all been abandoned, even as his family continues to pray for his safe return and the security agencies doing everything within their power to ensure that no harm befalls him. Again, that he is re-united with his family in one piece.
The family of the former Alliance for Democracy presidential candidate, YES INTERNATIONAL! Magazine gathered, had not recovered from the shocking and untimely death of their crown prince, Deji, who died in the ill-fated aircraft conveying the corpse of former Ondo Governor, Dr. Olusegun Agagu, for burial and now this.
‘Everybody is praying for Baba’s safe return’, one of them told us. ‘God forbid that anything happens to him because Mama (Mrs. Rachael Falae) won’t be able to cope. In fact, she has not even finished mourning Deji’s unexpected death’.
Condemnation and criticisms, as would be expected, have continued to trail Falae’s kidnap, with many asking the government to pay more attention to security and unemployment, which are two major causes of crime.