Security Operatives Kill Suspected Kidnapper in Ekiti

Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti

A suspected kidnapper was yesterday killed by combined forces of security agencies in Ekiti State during a midnight shootout in a sprawling forest between Ekiti and Kwara boundary.

A source revealed to journalists in Ado Ekiti that the suspected abductor was killed by combined forces of soldiers, police and local security task force belonging to Fulani extraction called Yan Banga set up by a Sarkin Fulani in Ekiti, Alhaji Adamu Abashe, inside a forest at Eruku, in Kwara State.

The security forces were said to have laid ambush for a kidnapping gang at the point of payment of a sum of N2.1 million ransom for an abducted Fulani man and chased them after collecting the money until they shot the suspect dead.

The police ,led by the Police Public Relations Officer, Sunday Abutu, paraded the kidnapper’s corpse at the police headquarters in Ado Ekiti.

The suspect was one of the gang of abductors terrorising Ikole , Ekiti East and Oye Local government areas of Ekiti State in recent time.

A source at Itapaji, in Ikole Local Government Area of the state, where series of kidnappings had taken place recently, said the corpse had been handed over to the police.

“The joint security forces chased the bandits inside the forest from 10pm on Wednesday till around 2am on Thursday. There were exchanges of gunshots. At a point, the police and soldiers had retreat, but the Ban yanga task force didn’t relent until they shot the one carrying a AK 47 rifle . A sum of N210,000 was found inside the pocket of the dead suspect,” he said.

The Secretary of Gan Allah Fulani Development Association of Nigeria, Ekiti chapter, Ibrahim Toyin Mumini, suggested that composition of the expanded joint task force remains the best way to tackle insecurity in Ekiti.

Abutu, who explained how the operation was carried out, said: “The local hunters, vigilantes, the Amotekun Corp and the Army teamed up with the Police yesterday (Wednesday) being 3rd November, 2021 and went after the kidnappers of the two victims who have been demanding ransom.

“It was in the process of picking up the ransom of about N2 million that the security operatives, which comprised the local hunters, the vigilante group, the army and the police gave them an hot chase up to Eruku in Kwara State where one of the kidnappers was gunned down during a gun fuel.

“Items such as one AK 47 riffle with 25 live rounds ammunition, one cutlass, two small itel phones belonging to the victims and a cash sum of N210,000 were recovered from the kidnappers”.

Abutu added that two victims were rescued alive by the security operatives while effort to arrest the fleeing suspects is ongoing.