Victor Ogunje in Ado Ekiti
Persons suspected to be kidnappers have again launched an ambush on travellers along Ado-Ikere-Akure road, shooting one commuter dead while trying to abduct occupants of a vehicle traveling on the road.
The incident was about the seventh one in the state recently, with casualties recorded in most cases.
It was learnt that victims of the latest attack were ambushed last Saturday evening at a location between Ikere and Iju in Ondo State, a border town with Ekiti State.
The victims were said to have been waylaid after the hoodlums suddenly came out from the bush to stop their vehicle with guns.
A source said: “The vehicle carrying over seven persons was said to have been ambushed between Iju and Ikere Ekiti; however, while the driver was trying to escape perceived abduction, the suspected gunmen rained bullets on the vehicle, killing one of the occupants.”
Shedding more light on the incident in Ado Ekiti yesterday, the spokesman for the state Police Command, ASP Sunday Abutu, said one person lost his life during the attack.
According to the police spokesman, the passengers on a Sharon mini bus involved were coming from Ondo State to Ekiti when the incident happened.
He said the police command had already launched a “discrete investigation and serious manhunt” to unmask the gunmen.
He disclosed that the driver of the bus managed to escape from the scene with the vehicle and drove to Ilupeju-Ikere Divisional Police headquarters in Ekiti State to report the incident.
“The driver accounted that he was brave enough to have speedily escaped with his passengers from the scene but in the process, one of the passengers was unfortunately hit by bullets and was rushed to a General Hospital in Ikere-Ekiti, where he later died.
“The Ekiti State Commissioner of Police implores everyone not to panic as the Ondo State Police Command would ensure that the perpetrators are made to face the full wrath of the law,” he said.
The state police boss called on the people of the state with useful information that could lead to the arrest of the gunmen not to hesitate to do so at the nearest police station.
