February 01, (THEWILL) – At least 10 farmers have been abducted by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers at Ayede Ogbese in Akure North local government area of Ondo State.
The victims were a farmer Femi Alawiye and the workers he engaged in his farm.
It was gathered that there was a fire outbreak on the farm last Saturday and the workers had to invite the owner of the farm to come and inspect the level of destruction caused by the fire.
A source informed that no sooner than Alawiye arrived on the farm with some other people, the hoodlums invaded the farm and whisked Alawiye and the workers away from the farm.
He said: “Late evening on Saturday, workers on the farm called Alawiye on the phone to intimate him about the fire incident on his farm. He quickly rushed to the farm to assess the level of the damage.
“But immediately he arrived at the farm, some armed men came out from the bush and ordered them to line up and whisked them away to an unknown destination.”
He, however, said five of the victims were released by the abductors in the middle of the night while five others were being held in the kidnappers’ custody.
However, a family member of Alawiye, disclosed that the abductors had contacted the family, demanding N100 million as a ransom for the release of the abducted victims.
It was gathered that the kidnappers reduced the ransom to N10 million after a series of negotiations.
“The kidnappers called the family on phone to demand N100 million and threatened to kill the victims if the family failed to produce the money, and said we may not see them alive again. But five of the farmworkers have been released.
“But after the negotiation, they reduced the ransom to N10 milion. But the family is yet to raise the money. That is where we are now. As I speak to you now, all of them (victims) are still in the den of the kidnappers.”
Confirming the incident, Spokesperson of the State Police Command, DSP Funmilayo Odunlami, said efforts were ongoing to rescue the victims unhurt.
Odunlami said, “Our men are already in the bush in search of the victims and we are sure they will be rescued.”
