Police free Ogun journalist 72 hours after kidnappers demanded N30m in ransom

Oduneye Oluwaseun, a journalist, was freed from captors 72 hours after being taken hostage by gunmen in the Ijebu Ode region of the State by Ogun State Police Command agents.

On Thursday night around 7:50 p.m., Oduneye, the state’s publisher of Issues Magazine, was kidnapped in his Toyota Camry as he was driving back from a trip to Abeokuta, the state’s capital.

But on Saturday, he was freed unscathed after a 45-minute gunfight between the kidnappers and security personnel in Lagos State’s Idimu axis of the local government area of Egbeda.

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The victim’s wife was contacted by Oduneye’s captors on Friday through the victim’s phone line, and they demanded N30 million in ransom before they would release him, according to the Command’s Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi, who confirmed the development to journalists on Monday.

But in response to his wife’s report, the state’s chief of police, Frank Mba, gave the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) at Obalende, Ijebu Ode, Murphy Salami, jurisdiction over the area where the incident occurred, the order to ensure Oduneye’s safe release from his captors.