Nigerian Policemen

Richard Elesho

A Pastor, his wife and seven wedding guests were among 13 people abducted in two separate cases that occured between Ekiti and Kwara States on Saturday evening.

The wedding guests were in a Toyota Sienna bus and returning to Ilorin from Ekiti when they encountered the gunmen, who opened fire and promptly escorted them into the bush.

The Kwara State Police Command which confirmed the attacks however disclosed that nine of the victims had been rescued by law enforcement agents.

SP Ajayi Okasanmi, Police Public Relations Officer in Kwara State, confirmed the two kidnapping incidents in a statement he issued in Ilorin, the State capital.

He said four of the seven victims of the first kidnapping incident which occured between Oke-Onigbin and Omu-Aran were rescued by the joint security men while only the pastor and his wife are yet to be rescued in the second incident.

The statement reads: “Reports of two kidnap incidents were received simultaneously by the Kwara State Police Command on Saturday 07/08/2021 at about 1735hrs to the effect that, along Okeonigbin/Omuaran highway and Ekiti / Ekan Meje axis that six armed men emerged from the bush and stopped a Siena bus in transit from Ekiti state on its way to Ilorin and the seven occupants of the vehicle were marched into the bush.

“The Command promptly dispatched its tactical units comprising the Anti kidnapping and Anti cultists units, joined by local hunters and vigilantes members while police patrols on the routes were alerted.

“The abductors were instantly chased into the bushes, four out of the seven abducted persons were rescued, efforts are still in top gear to get the remaining three rescued.

“Deploying similar tactics by operatives, those abducted in Ekanmeje/Ekiti axis using the same modus were equally rescued, remaining a pastor and his wife who the Command is frantically doing everything possible to rescue unhurt.”

Okasanmi added, “some suspects have been arrested and are helping the command in her investigation.” He added that “the situation is under control.”

The News reports that gunmen also attacked a family who attended a burial ceremony in Ekiti on Friday night. They reportedly killed head of the family while they kidnapped a mother and her daughter. The kidnappers have demanded for N50 million ransome.