Gunmen have abducted the Deputy Director of Information and Communication Technology, Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, Mrs Lateefat Abimbola, and a student of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Toyinbo Olayinka, and two others.
While Abimbola was kidnapped in Ijebu-Ode on Thursday, Olayinka, who is a 400-level student of Aquaculture and Fisheries Management, FUNAAB, was abducted on Saturday from a private farm in Abule-Itoko on the Abeokuta-Ibadan Road in the Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State.
Olayinka was reportedly kidnapped along with the owner of the farm, identified simply as Dominic, and a 17-year-old Togolese girl.
Our correspondent gathered that the abductors of the FUNAAB student and the two others had contacted the farm manager’s wife and demanded N50m ransom for each of them.
On the TASUED lecturer’s abduction, a source explained that Abimbola was abducted last Thursday around 7pm at a junction next to her home in Ijebu-Ode.
The source told our correspondent that Abimbola’s abductors had not contacted the family.
The source said, “Till now, we have not heard from the abductors. They’ve not reached out to the family.”
Confirming the incident, the Head, Directorate of Public Relations, FUNAAB, Kola Adepoju, said Olayinka was abducted from where he had lived for three years as a self-sponsored indigent student.
Adepoju said in a statement, “According to the friend of the abducted student and a nursing mother, who witnessed his abduction, he was kidnapped by gunmen on a private farm in Abule Itoko, a village in the Odeda Local Government Area, where he has been working and living for the past three years as a self-sponsored indigent student.
“The management of the university has reported the abduction at the Ogun State Police Command headquarters, Eleweeran, and it is working earnestly with the command to ensure the safety and release of the kidnapped student.”
When contacted, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, DSP Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the command had been briefed about the incidents.
Oyeyemi promised to get back to our correspondent on the issue but had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.”
