The gun-wielding bandits have demanded N100 million in ransom from the family of the pregnant woman, nursing mother, and three other people they kidnapped in Erinmope-Ekiti, Moba local government areas of Ekiti State.
Muhammad Saliu Okanlawon (also known as Elebenla), the family’s head, described their experiences, saying that over the weekend, gunmen broke into their Erinmope-Ekiti home and kidnapped five members of his household.
The 60-year-old Mahmud, a livestock dealer, identified the kidnapped individuals as Kehinde Mahmud, Adijat Hussein, Hawawu Suleiman, Fatima, and another woman named Fatima. He said that the victims were the wives and children of his younger brother and son.
He said, “These hoodlums came to our house, and they were shooting sporadically. The male members of the households were in the mosque and they couldn’t suspect anything untoward. It was after they carried out their evil act that we discovered that five female members of the household were missing. We alerted the security agents immediately, and I must commend them for their swift response.
“The combined team of police, civil defense, Amotekun, and others trailed the assailants but could not track them. The Area Commander also showed up, but we learnt they (kidnappers) did not follow their usual exit route in Osin in Kwara. We learnt they must have mingled with the people of the community to conceal their identities.
“I learnt they only called once to demand a N100 million ransom, and since then, nothing has been heard from them again. We are using this medium to appeal to the government to come to our rescue. We don’t even know what to do again. One of the victims is carrying a nine-month-old pregnancy; you can imagine the kind of trauma she will be going through now. It is indeed a painful experience for the family.
“This was a strange incident because we have never experienced such in this community. We have lived here for more than 70 years in this community, even though we are from Kwara State. We don’t know any other place besides Erinmope.”
He clarified that every kidnapper was a woman, including a nursing mother and a pregnant woman.
Mahmud bemoaned the fact that the family could not possibly acquire such a large amount for ransom and pleaded with the state and municipal governments to assist the family in obtaining the release of the detainees.
