Vehicular movement along the busy Akure-Owo highway came to a standstill yesterday as residents of Ilu-Abo and adjoining communities in Akure North Local Council of Ondo State barricaded the road with the corpse of a kidnap victim.

While protesting against the deteriorating security situation within the axis, which borders the Akure Airport, the residents lamented that they could no longer cope with the heightened insecurity in the area, which led to incessant killings and kidnappings in the past few months.

The protesters, who recovered the remains of a middle-aged man killed by suspected kidnappers, prevented the free flow of traffic, leading to gridlock along the highway connecting the southern parts of the country with the North.

On Monday, the secretary of Okeluju Local Council Development Area under Akoko North West Local Council was kidnapped in his farm along with two others.

According to the protesting youths, they would not allow vehicular movement along the road until the government addresses the insecurity rocking communities in Akure North.

The residents, armed with various placards, said they could neither go to the farm nor sleep because of the incessant kidnapping in the communities. They asked the government to help them tackle the insecurity ravaging their areas.

Some of the inscriptions on the placards included “We Are Dying, Save Our Soul”, “Mr Governor, Please Assist Us” and “Our Children Are in Danger and We Cannot Go to Farms Again”.

The protesters insisted that Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa must address them to assuage their concerns.

Despite the intervention of the Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Lawal, who persuaded the residents to allow free flow of traffic, the protesting residents insisted that they would not vacate the road as their lives were in danger every time.

Lawal pleaded with the residents that the security agencies, including the State Security Network codenamed Amotekun and the police, would ensure the safety of lives and property, by beefing up security in the communities.

The police boss also visited the monarch of Ilu-Abo, Oba Olu Falae, and told him about the efforts being made by security agencies to curb insecurity in the town, promising to deploy additional policemen and tactical units to check insecurity.

MEANWHILE, twenty-four hours after the abduction of the Secretary of Okeluju Local Council Development Area (LCDA) under Akoko North West Local Council of Ondo State, Joseph Aladesuyi, the kidnappers have established contact with the family, demanding N100 million for his release.

Family sources revealed that the kidnappers reached out to the family through a telephone call about 7.00am yesterday and left no room for negotiation after the demand.

Aladesuyi, who is the Managing Director of Jotina Farms, was abducted on Monday morning in his farm along with two others in the Kajola axis of the Ilu-Abo community in Akure North Local Council of the state near the Akure Airport.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, a family member described the last 24 hours as a period of intense anxiety for the family, particularly because the council secretary was shot in his hand during the invasion of his farm.

“The kidnappers called this morning. They asked us to bring N100 million before they would release him. They spoke very shortly and hastily during the call, and they did not even allow us to say much.

“We have been very worried since Monday, but but the call has given us hope. We are still expecting that they will call because the money is a whole lot. How do we raise that amount as a family?

“Our concern is more about his health at the moment because we were made to understand that when they (kidnappers) arrived on the farm, he was shot in one of his hands while they were dragging him,” the family source stated.

Meanwhile, residents of the Ilu-Abo community have been thrown into heightened fear following the incessant and unabated killings and kidnappings within the axis by gunmen in the past weeks, lamenting over the deteriorating security situation as well as the continued silence on the part of the government.

The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO) in the state, DSP Abayomi Jimoh, disclosed that the Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Lawal, directed that all operational and intelligence resources be deployed to ensure the safe rescue of the victims and the apprehension of the suspects.

“Security operatives along with unconventional security outfits are combing nearby forests and surrounding communities as part of ongoing efforts to track down the perpetrators,” Jimoh stated.