From Priscilla Ediare, Ado-Ekiti

A traveller was killed along Ado-Ikere-Akure road by persons suspected to be kidnappers while trying to abduct occupants of a vehicle travelling on that road.

It was learnt that the victims of the attack were ambushed Saturday evening, at a location between Ikere and Iju, in Ondo State and a border town with Ekiti State.

The victims were said to have been waylaid after the hoodlums suddenly came from the bush to stop their vehicle with guns.

A source said: “The vehicle carrying over seven persons was said to have been ambushed between Iju and Ikere-Ekiti, but while the driver was trying to escape being abducted, the suspected gunmen rained bullets on the vehicle, killing one of the occupants.”

Shedding more light on the incident, in Ado-Ekiti, on Sunday, Spokesman  for the Ekiti  Command of the Nigeria Police, Mr Sunday Abutu, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) said one person lost his life during the attack.

According to the PPRO, the passenger Sharon Mini Bus involved was coming from Ondo State and heading to Ekiti when the incident happened.

He said the Command had already launched a “discrete investigation and serious manhunt” to unmask the gunmen.

He disclosed that the driver of the bus managed to escape from the scene with the vehicle and ran to Ilupeju-Ikere Divisional Police Headquarters in Ekiti State to report the incident.

“ The driver accounted that he was brave enough to have speedily escaped with his passengers from the scene but in the process, one of the passengers was unfortunately hit by bullets and was rushed to General Hospital, Ikere-Ekiti where he later died.

” The Ekiti State Commissioner of Police implores everyone not to panic as the Command shall join force with Ondo State Police Command to ensure that the perpetrators are made to face the full wrath of the law”, he said.

Abutu called on people of the state with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the gunmen not to hesitate doing so at any nearest police station.