On Monday, hundreds of students from higher institutions in Ondo State took to the streets in Ode Irele, in the Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State, protesting over the continued disappearance of one of the students from the area, Gideon Akindoye.

Akindoye, a 300-level student of computer engineering at Al-Hilmah University in Kwara State, went missing on June 11 after leaving for his father’s farm located between the Igbobini and Ode Irele communities, but his whereabouts have remained unknown since then.

Gideon, who travelled home from his school in Kwara State and was said to have left home to the farm to harvest cassava, has not returned home since then, raising suspicion that he must have been kidnapped on the farm.

The protesting students, under the auspices of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS), blocked the main road, causing traffic gridlock for several hours in the agrarian community.

The students are armed with placards with various inscriptions such as ‘Bring back Gideon dead or alive’, ‘Mr Governor, we need Your Help,’ ‘Akindoyo Gideon missing since June 11, 2024, Where is he?’, ‘Gideon, where are you?,’ among others.

The students called on the state governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, and security agencies in the state to quickly intervene and find the missing student.

Speaking, the Senate President of NANS, Comrade Henry Okunomo, who said the missing student was kidnapped by some unknown people, called on his abductors to release him dead or alive.

Okunomo confirmed that the missing student was a bona fide 300-level student of computer engineering at Al-Hilmah University in Kwara State, against a media report, saying the students union have enough documents to confirm the studentship of Gideon as a student of the university.

He said, “We are calling on those who kidnap comrade Gideon to release him to us, dead or alive. If he is dead, they should release his body to us to give him befitting burial, but if he is alive, they should release him to relieve his parents from unnecessary trauma.

“We have gathered here to solidarise with the people of Irele and Igbobini, and we are using this opportunity to call on the governor to end the lingering crisis between the two communities.”

Speaking on Gideon’s disappearance, his mother, Mrs Janet Akindoyo, said the boy arrived at Irele on Sunday, June 10, went to the farm to harvest the following day but never returned.

She said, “He has not returned; the search party saw his motorcycle where he parked it, but we haven’t seen him. I’m appealing to the security and the people to help find him.”

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, confirmed the missing student incident but said the men of the command were in the forest in search of the missing student.

“Our men are working in the forest in search of the person and investigation into the matter has begun,” the PPRO stated. (Nigerian Tribune)

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