From Priscilla Ediare, Ado Ekiti
Two butchers have arrested two suspected kidnappers in Ayetoro Ekiti in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State.
Sources in the town revealed that the butchers had gone to their abattoir for the business of the day at about 4:30 am on Sunday only to stumble on the suspected kidnappers who were waitin to pounce on early morning targets.
The suspected kidnappers had in the last few weeks unleashed terror on travellers on the road that links Ayetoro Ekiti with neighbouring Ewu Ekiti where some victims were either attacked or kidnapped.
But the butchers, Adebayo Johnson and Wasiu Adewole, took the battle to the kidnappers, apprehending one of them in the process while the other, who did not want to suffer the same fate as his partner, fled into a nearby bush to evade arrest.
One of the butchers was inflicted with machete wounds in the course of the battle with the kidnappers. He is said to be responding to treatment at an undisclosed hospital.
Angry residents of the town including some local hunters combed the bush and succeeded in arresting the second suspect. The duo have been handed over to the Police.
The Chairman of Ido/Osi Local Government, Mr Ayodimeji Adeola (aka Shikky), confirmed the incident in a telephone chat.
The local government boss explained that the suspects who gave their names as Abubakar Husseini and Mubarak Bello were interrogated on their mission in the area since their faces looked strange to the locals.
The chairman revealed that the butchers held one of the suspected kidnappers and did not allow him to run away till they alerted other members of the community who later handed the suspect to police.
Adeola stated that their failure to give satisfactory answers on their mission fuelled suspicion that they were members of a notorious kidnapping syndicate operating in Ayetoro and adjoining towns.
After the suspects told their interrogators that their boss was living in the town, their boss, who was called on phone through a number by one of the suspects, claimed that the two men were drivers that ply Lagos to Kaduna for commercial purpose.
Police spokesman Ekiti State Command ASP Sunday Abutu confirmed the incident.
He explained that there was a distress call to Ido/Osi Police Divisional headquarters at 0430 hrs that two persons were under attack while they were on their way to their abattoir.
He said the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) mobilised his men to the scene of the incident with the two suspects already in police custody.
Abutu, who further confirmed the names of the two suspects as Abubakar Husseini and Mubarak Bello, also explained that the victims in their statement narrated that the two suspects forced them to follow them to an unknown destination which they vehemently resisted.
According to the police spokesperson, the matter degenerated into physical combat between the two parties in which the victims received several machete wounds on their bodies.
He noted that the suspects will soon have their day in court as soon as investigation into the case has been concluded.