From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti
Joint security forces consisting of police, soldiers, the Amotekun Corp and local security Task Force, in the early hours of Thursday, killed a suspected kidnapper in Ekiti State during a midnight gun duel in a forest between Ekiti and Kwara border.
A source who disclosed this to journalists in Ado-Ekiti, noted that the local security Task Force belonged to the Fulani extraction called Ban Yanga, set up by the Sarkin Fulani in Ekiti, Alhaji Adamu Abashe. He added that the suspected kidnapper was killed inside a forest at Eruku, in Kwara State.
The security forces were said to have laid ambush for a kidnapping gang at the point of payment of a sum of N2.1 million ransom for an abducted Fulani man and chased them after collecting the money until they shot the suspect dead.
The police, led by the Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, paraded the kidnapper’s corpse at the police headquarters in Ado Ekiti.
The suspect, who was shot dead after being chased inside the forest covering several kilometres, was one of the gang of abductors terrorising Ikole, Ekiti East and Oye Local government Areas of Ekiti State in recent time.
A source at Itapaji, in Ikole local government area of the state, where series of kidnappings had taken place recently, said the corpse of the suspect had been handed over to the Police.
“The joint security forces chased the bandits inside the forest from 10pm on Wednesday till around 2am on Thursday. There were exchanges of gunshots.
“At a point, the police and soldiers had retreated, but the Ban yanga Task Force didn’t relent until they shot the one carrying a AK 47 rifle. A sum of N210,000 was found inside the pocket of the dead suspect”, he said.
The Secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Ekiti chapter, Ibrahim Toyin Mumini, suggested that composition expanded on the task Force remains the best way to tackle insecurity in Ekiti.
Abutu, who explained how the operation was carried out, said: “The local hunters, vigilantes, the Amotekun Corp and the Army teamed up with the Police yesterday being 3rd November, 2021 and went after the kidnappers of the two victims who have been demanding for ransom.
“It was in the process of picking up the ransom of about N2m that the security operatives which comprised the local hunters, the vigilante group, the army and the police gave them a hot chase up to Eruku in Kwara State where one of the kidnappers was gunned down during a gun duel.
“Items such as one AK-47 riffle with 25 live rounds ammunition, one cutlass, two small itel phones belonging to the victims and a cash sum of N210,000 were recovered from the kidnappers”.
Abutu added that two victims were rescued alive by the security operatives while effort to arrest the fleeing suspects is ongoing.