Tobias Sylvester
Suspected Fulani herdsmen reportedly laid an ambush and kidnapped three people along Lagos-Ibadan expressway on Wednesday, July 24.
The Chief Medical Director of the Lafia Hospital, Apata, Ibadan, Oyo State, Dr Oladipupo Sule, confirmed to Punch Metro on Wednesday that his son, Kayode and two members of staff of the hospital were abducted by the suspected herdsmen.
He gave the names of the abducted hospital employees as Opeyemi Abifarin and Dele Adigun.
Narrating his ordeal, the driver of the vehicle that conveyed the victims, Felix Tomori, said they had just driven past the Foursquare Church camp at Ajebo and approaching the Ibadan toll gate when bullets suddenly started flying from the bush in their direction.
I drove a bit forward but met another batch of the gunmen, who fired straight at the windscreen of the vehicle and one of the bullets hit Kayode in the leg. They didn’t stop firing and at that moment, other vehicles at our back started reversing and I was helpless. Tomari said:
“I parked and quickly opened the driver’s door, but two of the hoodlums, who had sticks in their hands, caught up with me by the door.
“The two men looked like Fulani in appearance. I pushed them aside and ran into the bush in the opposite direction. They were following me but sensed that the other occupants of the vehicle were about alighting, so, they turned back and went after them.
“At that point, I managed to escape and thought that the others would escape too, but I later realised that only Chika, a female employee of the hospital, escaped. The bandits ended up whisking away the injured Kayode and two others.
“The police arrived about 30 minutes later and I ran to them. They took me to their station, where I met Chika. I am still at the station as we have yet to hear from our colleagues, while the kidnappers have not contacted the families of the victims.”
We gathered that the kidnappers waylaid the victims around 7pm and, many motorists made attempts to turn back to where they were coming from, while others abandoned their vehicles and ran for cover.
The CMD said the vehicle had been recovered by the policemen at the Ogunmakin Police Station in Ogun State.
The family is still waiting for the kidnappers, who were said to be 15 in number, to contact the families of the victims. Sule said:
“I’m presently in Ogunmakin police station as I talk to you. I am distressed and seriously devastated. My son and two others went to Lagos to buy drugs for the hospital and were on the way back from the trip when they were ambushed and kidnapped.
“The driver said one of the kidnappers communicated in English and others were speaking in Hausa or the Fulani language. They have yet to talk to me for us to know what their real identities and intentions (are),” Sule added.
