A worker with Polaris Bank, Babatunde Dauda, and a palm wine tapper, Oluwaseun Oluokun, who were among the five people kidnapped on Ibadan-Ijebu Ode Road on Monday, have been rescued by men of the Nigeria Police.
Some Fulani herdsmen, numbering about seven, had sprung from a bush along the road after Ibuso Gbooro, close to Dally Junction, by a quarry site, at about 7am on Monday, wielding sophisticated rifles and shooting sporadically.
According to a credible source, the gunmen blocked the road and forced two Toyota Camry vehicles to a stop.
They reportedly picked two bankers working with Polaris Bank and Wema Bank from one of the cars, leaving out the driver and telling him to get in touch with the victims’ families for the payment of ransom.
Two occupants of the second vehicle and a palm wine tapper who was coming from his village to tap wine from his palm trees were also abducted.
The bankers, it was gathered, were on their way to their offices in Ijebu Ode, while the other car occupants were going to Ogbere, both in Ogun State.
When the abduction was reported at the at Idi Ayunre Police Station, the Divisional Police Officer and police personnel from Idi Ayunre were said to have been joined by police tactical teams, including operatives of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad, local vigilantes and hunters, as well as members of the Agbekoya and Amotekun Corps to comb the forest from Monday morning till Tuesday for the kidnappers and their victims.
Their efforts yielded some results as the Polaris Bank staff and palm wine tapper were rescued at Ogunmakin area at about 1pm on Tuesday.
Though the rescued victims said they did not pay any ransom, they were beaten by their captors before they were rescued.
It was gathered that the expended shells found at the scene of the incident showed that the kidnappers used AK47 rifles and guns using cartridges.
As of Tuesday night, the kidnappers had yet to contact victims’ families for ransom demand, probably having been unsettled by the police pursuit of them.
The source said the police were still combing the surrounding bush to rescue those still being held by the bandits.
A similar kidnap incident was said to have been recorded along the same road just a week ago, according to the source, during which three victims were abducted.
They were released after two of the victims paid N500,000, while the third victim was rescued by the police without any payment.
The Oyo State Police Cmmand Public Relations Officer, CSP Olugbenga Fadeyi, confirmed the story of the abduction and the rescue of the two victims.
Fadeyi said operatives were still combing the forest for the remaining victims and their captors.
