Four persons were on Wednesday evening, July 6, abducted on Oke Ako-Irele road in Ikole local government area of Ekiti state, with the kidnappers later demanding N20 million ransom.
According to reports, the incident which occurred at about 7:30 pm involved occupants of two vehicles, a commercial car and a mini-truck, waylaid at a bad portion of the road.
A source at Oke Ako stated that that the driver, a native of the neighbouring Ipao-Ekiti, and a passenger were abducted in the commercial vehicle while the driver and his assistant were taken away in the mini-truck, which he said was conveying charcoal.
A community source at Oke Ako said, “We were in a meeting at about 8 pm on Wednesday when we got information that there were two vehicles with doors opened on the Oke Ako-Irele road, and the headlights were switched on.
“On getting there, we saw a commercial vehicle and a mini-truck. However, before we got there, the occupants of the two vehicles had been abducted by gunmen.
“The abductors had been calling since Wednesday night requesting N20 million as ransom for the victims.
“In the course of the phone call from the kidnappers’ den, we got to know the victims are four, and that the passenger boarded the commercial vehicle at Irele-Ekiti and heading to Ayedun-Ekiti.
“The commercial car driver said he did not know where they were in the bush but that all he knew was that they were near a river as they could hear sounds of a flowing river.
“However, men of the police Rapid Response Squad (RRS), Ametekun Corps, and local hunters have been combing the bush to rescue them. It is our prayer that they get them hale and hearty,” the source added.
Another source, who stated that the gunmen were requesting N20m ransom, added that the communities in Ekamefa comprising Irele, Ijowa, Oke Ako, Ipao, Itapaji and Iyemero were living in fear of the kidnappers, who he said had surrounded the area, The Punch reports.
The spokesperson for the Ekamefa region, Oluwafemi Abayomi, said, “Insecurity is a big problem in our area here. Our people are not safe, nobody can go to the farm again without being kidnapped.
“The residents of Ekamefa call on the state and federal government to help us. We are helpless in the hands of gunmen,” Abayomi said.
“There are soldiers at Ipao, there are soldiers at Oke Ako, yet this kidnap incident happened around there.”
Meanwhile, the state police public relations officer, Sunday Abutu, while verifying the kidnap incident, stated that he was still expecting more information from police operatives.
