THREATENING INSTABILITY: ABDUCTORS KIDNAP STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS AND DEMAND A N30 MILLION RANSOM

In Ekiti State, gunmen posing as herdsmen abducted six students, three instructors, and the driver of a private school bus on Monday night.

While riding the school bus back from Eporo-Ekiti, they were kidnapped.

Only a few hours had passed when gunmen along the Ipao-Oke Ako Road killed two monarchs: Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin, the Elesun of Esun Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area, and Oba Olatunde Olusola, the Onimojo of Imojo in Oye Local Government Area. Their colleague, Oba Adebayo Fatoba, the Alara of Ara Ekiti, in Ikole Local Government Area, managed to escape.

According to information obtained, the abducted youngsters attended Apostolic Nursery and Primary School in Emure, Ekiti State.

In order to free the five students and the other victims, kidnappers of schoolchildren contacted the families of their victims and demanded N30 million in ransom.

One of the children's relatives, according to a close source, was contacted by the kidnappers yesterday evening and requested N30 million naira in exchange for the release of their hostages.

Five kidnap suspects are detained by police

In a similar incident, yesterday while conducting a bush combing operation through Oke-Osun, Ikere/Igbo-Okah, and the dense woodland around the Iju/Ikere boundary, the combined operation team comprising the Ekiti State Police Command, Amotekun, OPC, Civil Defense, and Local Hunters also detained five alleged kidnappers.

The suspects, who identified themselves as herdsmen, were discovered to be in possession of two motorcycles, a cutlass, a jack knife/dagger, and four phones during questioning.

Among them are Suleiman Abdulahi, Isah Abdulahi, Abubakar Aliu, Mohammed Bande, and Usman Jelili.

According to accounts, the traditional rulers who were killed were on their way back from a gathering in Kogi State when their cars ran into suspected kidnappers who had set up an ambush.

The two other monarchs reportedly tried to flee but were shot by the robbers as they pursued Alara in an attempt to abduct him.

The two monarchs' bodies have been removed from the scene and brought to a mortuary, according to Michael Ogungbemi, the chairman of the Ajoni Local Council Development Area, where the tragedy occurred.

He verified that when the traditional rulers were ambushed in the Oke Ako region, they were traveling from Kogi State.