Kidnappers snatch Police Inspector, four others in fresh Edo abductions

Fear has gripped parts of Akoko Edo Local Government Area of Edo State following the abduction of five persons, including a serving police officer, in two separate operations carried out by suspected kidnappers.

The spate of kidnappings in the area has reportedly become so frequent that the local government authority, in collaboration with traditional rulers, imposed a daily curfew from 9:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. in a bid to curb the menace.

Sources disclosed that the first incident occurred on February 8 at the Makeke Primary Health Centre, where gunmen abducted Tope Oriloye, a female secondary school student, and Samuel Ilesanmi, who had taken his wife and son to the facility for medical attention.

The second attack was reported in Auchi, where suspected kidnappers stormed the residence of Police Inspector Segun Obanowa, from Uma/Imoga in Akoko Edo, abducting him alongside his wife and daughter. His wife was later released to enable her raise ransom for the release of her husband and child.

Confirming the incidents in a statement issued on Wednesday in Benin City, the National Coordinator of the Movement for the Advancement of Akoko Edo People, Bode Ekundayo, said the kidnappers who abducted Oriloye and Ilesanmi had already contacted their families, demanding N100 million ransom.

“Daring kidnappers struck again in Akoko Edo, this time at Makeke village, less than a kilometre from Ososo in the eastern part of Akoko Edo, taking away a secondary school female student, Tope Oriloye and Samuel Ilesanmi on February 8, at the community health centre,” Ekundayo said.

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He added: “In a similar operation in Auchi, kidnappers invaded the residence of Police Inspector, Segun Obanowa from Uma/Imoga in Akoko Edo and kidnapped him, his wife and daughter, later releasing his wife to go look for ransom to free her husband and daughter.”

Ekundayo disclosed that local hunters and vigilante groups in Makeke were immediately mobilised and searched the surrounding forests throughout the night and into the early hours of the next day, but without success.

“However the kidnappers called in the evening on February 9, to ask for N100 million for Tope Oriloye and Samuel Ilesanmi to be released,” he said.

“This trend of demanding N100 million to commence ransom negotiation is becoming a familiar thing, having manifested its irritating trend in previous kidnap ransom negotiations.”

The group appealed to the Edo State Government and the Akoko Edo Local Government authority to urgently intervene and rescue the area from what it described as a siege by kidnappers.

The Edo State Police Command confirmed the abductions.

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