Ondo under fresh siege of kidnappers, ritual killers

•Governor Aiyeda­tiwa and gunmen

Sudden rise in cases of kidnap­ping, killing and other crimes in Ondo State calls for concern and immediate actions by all secu­rity agencies and the state gov­ernment as the state is currently under siege again.

The situation has worsened to the point that the perpetrators have become daring that they go to people’s homes and shops to ab­duct them without any resistance from security agents, reports Daily Independent.

It first started with the killing of the Registrar of University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo, Mr. Ezekiel Adeniran, in broad daylight.

Adeniran assumed office as the substantive registrar of the institution on January 6, 2025 and was suspected to have been killed in his residence on July 17, 2025 in Ondo town.

As soon as this happened, An­drel Eloho Okah, a student of Department of History and International Studies in the Faculty of Art, Adekunle Ajasin Uni­versity, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) and John Friday Abba, a student at De­partment of Economics, Faculty of Agriculture of the same varsity, were abducted and later found dead in the forest. ­

When the universi­ty community was still battling with the shock, another student of the varsity, Joy Adeyemi of Department of Kinetics was found dead in her room. Her body was al­ready decomposing. It was suspected that she was killed by a fleeing boyfriend.

In quick succession, the Faculty Officer of Fac­ulty of Education of the University, Mr. Omoniyi Eleyinmi, was abducted right in his sitting room at Supare-Akoko when he just returned from work.

A drug law enforce­ment agent was also killed in Ondo town where about 15 suspects have been de­clared wanted by the po­lice in May.

Some farmers were also abducted on their farm by gunmen who stormed the state.

This was followed by another shop owner at Ogbese, one Mrs. Orogun, who was kidnapped right in her shop about 8:30p.m.

One of her customers, a man, was shot dead by the gunmen.

The Ogbese incident led to angry reaction by the residents as they bar­ricaded the busy Akure/ Owo road used by inter­state travellers for several hours.

Motorists were forced to make a detour as a number of them aban­doned the journey while some took bush paths.

Youths in their hun­dreds complained of sudden return of kidnap­pings and killings in the state, reeling out series of kidnap cases and killings in the state, especially in July and the abduction of the female shop owner in the community on Friday.

A youth leader, who led the protesters, simply identified as Justina, ac­cused the government and security agencies of ne­glecting the community.

Justina disclosed that it’s the youth of the town that are providing pro­tection for the people as security agencies are in­different to security of life and property in the community.

It remains a mystery to the people of the state why a state that had a re­cess from kidnapping in­cidents and other heinous crimes for about a month between May and June, suddenly became haven of the perpetrators who fled the state during the period.

Our correspondent no­ticed with dismay while returning from Lagos on August 4, 2025, the up­surge in the number of police checkpoints be­tween the boundary of Ogun State and Ore.

An observer said that “it should be noted that kidnappers use forests as their hideouts and among kidnappers arrested so far in the state, none has been arrested while driv­ing on the road.”

According to the police, the woman, who was ab­ducted at Ogbese in Akure North Local Government Area, was driving a Hon­da Accord to Akure while the other vehicle used by the gunmen drove to­wards Owo.

At the time of filing this report, no one has been arrested in connec­tion with the incident.

Observers are con­cerned about the perfor­mances of the police in the recent time in the state. They noted that the only service the police render is to give the peo­ple how the gunmen oper­ated while they remain at large.

Some of the suspects they arrested raised questions, particularly the sudden death of the prime suspect, Oladele, a.k.a Tallex, in the ab­duction of Andrel Eloho Okah, and John Friday Abba, the two students of AAUA who were found dead.

Although the spokes­man to the state Police Command said: “Follow­ing his arrest, the suspect (Oladele) had been in and out of the hospital under close medical supervi­sion and was receiving adequate care before he died in the early hours of yesterday,” the students union of the institution demanded the display of the body of the suspect.

Andrel Eloho Okah was a student of Depart­ment of History and In­ternational Studies in the Faculty of Art, while John Friday Abba was a student at the Department of Economics, Faculty of Agriculture of the varsity.

The killing of NDLEA agent by a drug peddler in a cross-fire revealed that drug peddlers who had fled the town after serious manhunt by the police in May have returned to the town.

They are also query­ing the essence of the 26 checkpoints between the boundary of Ogun State (Ajebamidele) and Ore.

Unfortunately, observ­ers noted that the check­points were mere extor­tion points and nothing is being checked except when they sight a new car.

One of them said: “It has not been reported that police handed over to the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS) any vehicle imported without appro­priate documents with the owner.”

The people of the state are also calling on the new Commissioner of Po­lice, Adebowale Lawal, to live to his promise to keep the state safe from kidnap­pers and other criminals.

They noted that he in­herited a state that was enjoying relative peace and freedom from kidnap­pers and other terrible criminals.

Some of the observers said they are tired of the police usual statement that the Commissioner of Police has directed all tactical commanders to the scene of the inci­dents.

Though some called on the state government to give more support to all security agencies in the state, particularly Ondo State Security Net­work, otherwise known as Amotekun Corps, for improved performance, a number of them differed, saying if the security sit­uation in the state was rel­atively peaceful when the Commissioner of Police, Adebowale Lawal, took over, then he should have leveraged the tactics and architecture employed by his predecessor.

They, therefore, de­manded a change in the approach of the com­mand to tackling crimes, suggesting that those men deployed to checkpoints on Ajebamidele/Ore Road should be redeployed to the forests where the criminals hibernate.

Protesters said the po­lice should be proactive in its operations rather than looking for the perpetra­tors after their successful operations.

Ransoms are being collected in millions by these criminals, but the police always distanced themselves from the ne­gotiation and collection. But it’s a reality that the family, friends and associ­ates of the victims source for funds to secure the freedom of their relations who are in the captivity of the gunmen.

A cursory look at the chronicle of kidnapping and killing incidents in the state from July till date shows that Ondo State is seriously under attacks by gunmen.

This demands quick and decisive action by Governor Lucky Aiyeda­tiwa before the state is turned to a pariah state by criminals.