From Taiwo Oluwadare, Ibadan
Four farmhands were kidnapped at the Agric Settlement area in Iseyin, Oyo State, last Saturday afternoon.
Farmers who escaped, about 10 in number, revealed that the kidnappers dressed in army camouflage with sophisticated weapons.
The farm settlement along Iseyin-Ipapo-Saki road has a collection of farmers who hired the land from the state Ministry of Agriculture for farming activities. The four abducted farmers were said to be working at a big poultry farm situated within the settlement.
As of late last Saturday night, a team of Amotekun men, soldiers and policemen were combing the large expanse of land of the settlement towards the Okeho, Itesiwaju local government axis, where the kidnappers were noticed to have headed with their victims.
When contacted on phone concerning the incident on Sunday morning, chairman of the farm settlement association, Mr Adepoju, said the search team were still in hot pursuit of the kidnappers towards the Okeho forest. He said he could not say much until the search party returned from the forest.
“It is very unfortunate that this is now happening in our area, the government asked us to farm and we are in the farm, the next thing is for kidnappers to snatch us like chicken.
”Those kidnappers came with sophisticated weapons that our Amotekun men do not have, I salute the bravery of our security men because when they were pursuing the men in army camouflage, we could hear the difference in the fire power of the kidnappers as different from that of our local vigilante and Amotekun men.”
The incident has, however, caused panic in the Iseyin community, as the identity of the four kidnapped farmhands were yet to be ascertained.
Some of those who spoke with journalists on Saturday evening about the sad incident lamented the rate at which kidnappers operate within the Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa area of Oyo State without any significant solution from the security agencies.
They called the attention of the federal and state governments to the problem as, according to them, the spate of the kidnappings might start to affect the economy of the areas, as farmers and businessmen might find it difficult to go to farm or ply their trades due to fear of kidnappers.