Gunmen kidnap Ondo monarch’s mother-in-law

Lawmaker condemns incessant abduction in the state 

GUNMEN, who are suspected to be kidnappers, have abducted a septuagenarian and mother-in-law to the oil magnate, Oba Fredrick Akinruntan, the Olugbo of Ugbo Kingdom at her residence in Igbotako, Okitipupa Local Council.

The incident, according to sources who spoke with The Guardian, occurred on Saturday night, when fierce-looking hoodlums stormed the ancient town in a Toyota Pencil Light car, shooting sporadically in the air to scare away people in the community.

The hoodlums forcefully broke into the house and abducted Mrs Omogbene Adeborile, the wife of Igbotako Ward II chairman and mother to the wife of Akinruntan, the successful oil tycoon and imperial ruler in the Ilaje Local Council of the state.

The member representing the people in Okitipupa/Irele Federal Constituency, Mike Omogbehin, while relating the attack to The Guardian, said he was in his home-town during the weekend when he heard sporadic gunshots at the Oke-Idebi end of the town.

He tasked the state security agents to secure her release so that she could be reunited with her aged husband

Omogbehin, who coincidentally hails from the same town with the monarch, decried the dastardly acts of the kidnappers, which he said everybody thought had been nipped in the bud due to the military checkpoints mounted in strategic areas across the state.

He lamented the fragile state of the victim who, according to him, is between 77 to 78 years old and the untold hardship, both psychologically and mentally, being meted on her aged husband.

The representative noted that the attack was not the first time in the ancient town, recounting that in the recent past, someone very close to him, the mother of the popular Global Fleet mogul and politician, Jimoh Ibrahim and Deolu Ijose’s mother, just to mention a few, have experienced such ugly fate in the same axis.

The federal lawmaker condemned the incessant case of kidnapping in the area and state at large, thereby urging security operatives to beef up surveillance and intelligence reports across the state to forestall future reoccurrence and also effect the release of the abducted septuagenarian.

He tasked the state security agents to secure her release so that she could be reunited with her aged husband, whom he said is passing through some pains at the moment.

He also called for a special surveillance in the area as the people now live in constant fear and trepidation due to the perennial blackout they’ve been experiencing for the past eight months.

The state Police Commissioner, Isaac Eke, confirmed the incident on Saturday and the Police Public Relations Officer, Wole Ogodo, disclosed yesterday afternoon that the Special Anti-kidnapping team of the Command are already on the trail of the kidnappers whom he assured would soon be brought to book.