Men of the Ondo State Security Network, Amotekun, have rescued six undergraduates who were kidnapped by some unknown gunmen along Ikaramu Akoko in the Akoko North West Local Government area of the state.
The six victims who were travelling to Abuja from Lagos were rescued by the men of state security outfits after the people of the community raised alarm about their abduction.
The Amotekun Corps were able to rescue the victims which include three males and three females travelling in a vehicle, saying it took four days of combing the forest before they were rescued.
Speaking on the development, the Chairman of the Council of Amotekun Commanders in the South-West region and Ondo State Commander of the corps, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, said that the victims regained their freedom after their abductors ran away when they sighted the security men.
According to him, the corps responded to a distress call from the people and immediately moved into the forest to rescue the victims, who were travellers.
Adeleye explained that, “We got a call that some people have been apprehended and we traced them to their location which showed that they were somewhere around Akoko.
“We were there for almost two days, mounting pressure on them and we did a lot of tracking to get to their location. The hoodlums escaped from the camp but our men are still on their trail.
“I want to urge people that when they see something they should say something. That will help us more to have adequate results and fight crime and criminals in the state.”
Narrating their ordeal in the hands of the kidnappers, one of the victims, Gbenga Sunday, explained that the driver of the vehicle was part of the ploy.
“When we got to somewhere in Akoko, we didn’t know where the driver was going, he was pretending as if he had missed the way.
We were going around for several hours which made me check my Google map. That was when we realised that we were off the road completely.
“By the time we were trying to turn back to the appropriate direction, eight armed and masked men came out from the forest and barricaded the road. Before we knew what was going on, we have to start driving back to where we were coming from.
“They dragged us all out and marched six of us into the forest. While with them, we roamed around the place for hours and they kept moving us from one location to another almost immediately.
“For the four days, we were fed with roasted yam or cassava, with red oil and salt. The food was placed on a bag of garri on the floor for us. We have no choice but to eat what was given to us in order to gain the strength to walk the long journey into the thick forest.
“The men seem to really know the area very well. We made attempt to run but they got us back within a few minutes and we had to decide to remain with them.
“We got a place where some people saw us but they pretended not to see us but just walked past us. It was a great relief for us when men of the Amotekun corps and local vigilantes came to the location and overpowered the kidnappers and rescued us from them”
