Six abducted undergraduates have narrated how they were rescued by the Ondo State Security outfit, codenamed Amotekun, at Ikaramu in Akoko North West Local Council of the state.

They were kidnapped and held for four days in a thick forest until Amotekun personnel rescued them.

The victims, three males and three females, were travelling to Abuja from Lagos when they were abducted by eight gunmen.

Our experience

Narrating their experiences to journalists, one of the victims, Gbenga Sunday, claimed that the driver of the commercial vehicle they boarded was part of the kidnappers.

“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. When we checked our Google map, we realised that we were off the road completely.

“By the time we were trying to turn back to the right direction, eight armed and masked men came out from the forest and barricaded the road. Before we knew what was going on, the driver started driving back to where we were coming from. They dragged us out and marched six of us into the forest.

“We roamed around the place for over 30 minutes. We kept moving from one location to the other in the thick forest

“For the four days, we were fed with roasted yam, cassava, with red oil and salt.

“We had no choice but to eat what was given to us in order to gain strength to walk the long journey in the thick forest.

“The men seem to really know the area very well. Any attempt to run, they threatened to shoot us. That was why we decided to remain calm with them.

“We got to a place where people were walking and passing us and never made any remark but later that day, men of Amotekun corps and local vigilantes came to the location, overpowered the kidnappers and rescued us from them.

How we recued them —Amotekun

Explaining how the victims were rescued, the state Commander of Amotekun, Adetunji Adeleye, said: “We got a call that some people have been apprehended. We got their location which showed that they were somewhere around Akoko. We were there for almost two days, mounting pressure on them. We did a lot of tracking to get to their location.

“l want to urge people, when they see something they should say something; that will help us more to have adequate results.”

Meanwhile, security agencies in the state have embarked on a joint show of force patrol in Akure and Owo areas of the state.

The joint patrol was organised by the Police, Army, Amotekun, NSCDC, the DSS and the Defence Intelligence Agency, DIA to fortify the ongoing Operation ‘Gba le Gba’ko’ in the state.

It was learned that the exercise is part of inter-agencies’ commitment to ensure that the state is crime-free and part of measures to warn criminal minded-people to steer clear of Ondo. (Vanguard)

Update news