Suspected herdsmen kill Dangote staff in failed kidnap attempt in Ondo

Suspected herdsmen have reportedly murdered a 49- year-old contract staff with Dangote company, Abayomi Olukoju, during a failed kidnap attempt in Ajowa Akoko, Akoko North West council area of Ondo state.

The victim, a father of four, according to the report was trying to escape being kidnapped when he was shot at close range by the killers. Saturday Vanguard gathered that the bandit had laid siege on the highway when the victim who was on a motorbike unknowingly ran into them.

However, the victim who was travelling between Ajowa Akoko/ Akunnu, on seeing the bandit about a pole from where he was, hurriedly parked his motorbike and took to his heel, only to run into other members of the gang who shot him and he died instantly.

An eyewitness account said that the victim was returning to his station in Kogi state to resume duty when he met his untimely death.

The source, however, said that the lifeless body of the victim was discovered by some travellers coming from Abuja in the pool of his blood and reported the incident at the police station.

The source said some policemen and soldiers combed the area but no arrest was made while the remains of the deceased were deposited at the morgue.

Speaking with Saturday Vanguard, the victim’s brothers, Richard, Oluwafemi Olukoju and Soji Ogedengbe lamented the incessant killings in the community.

They said many residents of the community had been kidnapped and killed in the last few months.

The community, they said has put in place several measures to curtail the activities of the criminals through communal security arrangements but said bandits never stopped terrorising the people of the area.

According to the brothers “farmers in the area have stopped going to farmers. We call on the security agencies and Amotekun in the state to come to our aid, the bandits always come to Akoko from Kogi, which is a border town. The influx of the heavily armed herdsmen to that area is making life miserable for farmers and the inhabitants of the area”. The Area Police Commander,  Muri Agboola, when contacted confirmed the incident. Agboola said police detectives from the state command had been deployed to comb the forest, adding that the killers would soon be arrested.