My abductors forced me to trek in forest for 12 hours, freed ex-minister’s son narrates ordeal

Dayo Adewole, the son of former Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, who was abducted by kidnappers on Tuesday and released within 24 hours, has narrated his ordeals in the hands of his kidnappers.

Dayo, who said no ransom was paid to secure his freedom, spoke to journalists at the headquarters of the Oyo State police command, Eleyele, Ibadan, yesterday.

Dayo, a United Kingdom-trained medical biochemist, was kidnapped by gunmen in his farm at Iroko, a rural community in Akinyele Local Government Area of the state.

Narrating his ordeal, he said: “The incident happened at about 5:30p.m. I was just about to get out of the farm when a couple of gunmen, about six came. The driver panicked and I jumped out of the car. I ran but they chased me until they caught up with me.

“I eventually took them to the farm office and gave them whatever money we had in the office. They took me and drove away in the car, and went into the bush. Between 6:30p.m. and 7:00p.m, we were patrolling all over the bush on foot until the following morning at about 8:00a.m.

“When they found out they could not get anything, they let me go around 7:36p.m. I found my way and got into a village, where I was directed to the expressway. I met a nice okada man that took me back to Iroko village. There, somebody give me his phone so that I could call daddy to come and pick me up.

“The car was taken to somewhere else as a diversion, and we were taken into the forest. They allowed me to go without any ransom. I was beaten a couple of times. Luckily, one of them was really a good person. Every time it happened (beating), he would just tell them to leave me.

“Nonetheless, the kidnappers were not able to pin me to being this person or that person. They believed I was either the son of a senior police officer or a senior military officer. They concluded that was why senior police officers and senior army officers were patrolling the area, searching for me and looking everywhere. “So, they could not really do what they intended doing. They were believing the intensity of the rescue operation was too much and they let me go because it would be a bad market for them, and really it was a bad market for them.”