Academic activities were yesterday suspended following the gruesome murder of a lecturer of the Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, Ondo State, Mr. Taiwo Akinyemi, by kidnappers.

Akinyemi was abducted on Tuesday along with three others near Amurin Village along Owo-Akure Road.

The killing may be due to the inability of the kidnappers to pick the N500,000 ransom where it was placed as three other victims kidnapped with Akinyemi had regained their freedom.

The ransom was still intact after Akinyemi’s body was found by a farmer, suggesting that his abductors might have killed him because they could not find the money where it was dropped by the institution who negotiated his release.

It was gathered that the kidnappers tied the 52-year-old lecturer to a tree and used his clothes to tie him before shooting him. The kidnappers also macheted him gruesomely.

Akinyemi’s murder led to the suspension of the second semester examination scheduled to begin yesterday while students and staff of the institution moved round the school in procession as a mark of respect for the deceased.

Governor Rotimi Akeredolu also suspended all official assignments and rushed to the school to commiserate with the academic community, describing the lecturer’s death as unfortunate.

The body of the 52-year-old lecturer was found in a bush tied to a stick on Sunday evening after being in the den of the kidnappers for six days.

Addressing journalists, chairman of the Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnic (SSANIP), RUGIPO chapter, Chris Olowolade, described the death of the father of three as sad. He explained that the union had entered into negotiation with the kidnappers in order to secure his release.

“We lost him to the kidnappers and received his body yesterday. The kidnappers placed a ransom of N100 million on him, which nobody can afford but they reduced it to N7 million after two days and later grudgingly asked us to come with N500,000.

The money was taken to them and the person who took the money was directed by the kidnappers to where he should drop the money. They asked him to stop, reverse and move just to confirm if he was the actual person bringing the money.

“But after some hours, they called that the man bringing the money should come back that they didn’t see the money, only for the Rector to be called yesterday to come and identify a body. We rushed to the morgue and discovered it was his body.

“The body was recovered by the police and deposited at the morgue, it show he was badly maltreated before he was killed. We, however, recovered the N500,000 ransom taken to them. We suspect that maybe Akinyemi died in their hands before the ransom was taken to them,” he said adding that the deceased was shot at the back by the kidnappers while he was also heavily macheted before he was killed.

Addressing the institution’s community, Akeredolu explained that the state government and the security operatives tried to rescue the deceased.

He gave the assurance that the government would be committed to the security of lives and property, saying he has directed the security operatives in the state to increase road patrol to curb the activities of kidnappers on the roads.

The state Police Public Relations Officer, Femi Joseph, policemen are on the trail of the kidnappers but no arrest has been made. He enjoined the people to be more security conscious and report strange faces or movement to the police.

•Sourced from The Guardian report

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