In Kwara, seven wedding guests, the pastor, and five others were kidnapped

In two kidnapping incidents that occurred between the Kwara-Ekiti axis on Saturday evening, a total of 13 people were abducted, including seven wedding guests, a pastor, and his wife.

According to police sources, seven guests on their way back to Ilorin in a Sienna bus from a wedding in Ekiti State were kidnapped at a point between Oke-Onigbin and Omu-Aran in the Irepodun Local Government Area of Kwara State around 5.35 p.m. on Saturday.

A pastor and his wife, as well as four other people, were involved in the second incident, which occurred between Ekan-Meje in the Oke-Ero Local Government Area of Kwara State and Ekiti State.

SP Ajayi Okasanmi, the Public Relations Officer for the Kwara State Police Command, confirmed the two kidnapping incidents, but added that nine of the victims had been rescued.

Read also: Nasarawa APC is investigating the land commissioner for insubordination

In a press statement issued late yesterday, Okasanmi said that the joint security men rescued four of the seven victims of the first kidnapping incident that occurred between Oke-Onigbin and Omu-Aran, while only the pastor and his wife have yet to be rescued in the second incident.

“Reports of two kidnapping incidents were received simultaneously by the Kwara State Police Command on Saturday 07/08/2021 at about 1735hrs to the effect that, along Okeonigbin/Omuaran highway and Ekiti / Ekan Meje axis, six armed men emerged from the bush and stopped a Siena bus in transit from Ekiti state on its way to Ilorin and the seven occupants of the vehicle were marched,” the statement said.

“The Command quickly dispatched its tactical units, which included anti-kidnapping and anti-cultists units, as well as local hunters and vigilantes, while police patrols on the routes were alerted,” said the statement.

“The abductors were immediately chased into the bushes, and four of the seven abducted people were rescued; efforts to rescue the remaining three are still underway.

“Using similar tactics by operatives, those abducted in the Ekanmeje/Ekiti axis using the same modus were equally rescued, leaving only a pastor and his wife, whom the Command is frantically trying to rescue unharmed,” Okasanmi said.