Bamigbola Gbolagunte, Akure
No fewer than ten passengers including the driver of an 18-seater bus were on Wednesday allegedly kidnapped along Akure/Ado-Ekiti road by gunmen.
The victims were said to be travelling from Akure to Ado-Ekiti when the gunmen ambushed them and took them to an unknown destination inside the forest.
The incident happened a few days after the Nigerian Army launched an anti-kidnapping squad and procured a drone to fight kidnapping in Ondo and Ekiti states.
Also, governors of the six states of the South West geo-political zone on Tuesday converged on Ibadan, Oyo State to proffer lasting solution to the scourge of kidnapping in the region.
However, the latest kidnapping incident was reportedly aided by the deplorable condition of the Ado-Ekiti/Akure road, as the kidnappers reportedly stopped the vehicle at one of the bad portions of the road.
A source hinted that the victims were yet to link up with their relatives and no amount of money has been placed on them as ransom. But the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) for the state police command, Mr Femi Joseph, informed that only one person was kidnapped, claiming that the police were already on the trail of the kidnappers.
He assured that the police would arrest the kidnappers and save the lives of the victims as police officers had already been deployed to the spot where the travellers were kidnapped.
He said the state police command would work with men of the Ekiti State police command to arrest the hoodlums who carried out the devilish act.
