7th August, 2021
By Ariwodola Idowu
Kidnappers who killed one person and abducted two others on Friday night in Ekiti State, have demanded for N50 million ransom to free the abductees.
The victims of the kidnapping had been in Ewu-Ekiti in Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti since Thursday for the burial of Mrs Florence Tuyole Erinle, mother of Mr Olusegun Erinle, their family friend.
Briefing newsmen on the incident in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday, Erinle, member of the Ekiti House of Assembly from 2011 to 2015, confirmed the demand for ransom by the abductors.
Erinle said that the victims are his family friend.
According to him, the victims were returning to their hotel room in Ayetoro-Ekiti, in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state, when the suspected kidnappers attacked them, killing one and abducting two others.
Erinle said a motorcyclist, who was said to have been monitoring their movement wherever they went since they came, had been apprehended and handed over to the police.
He said that the cyclist was handed over to the police to explain his suspicious role of acting as informant to the kidnappers since their arrival in the town.
ASP. Sunday Abutu, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, however, denied knowledge of any ransom being demanded, but confirmed the arrest of the suspected informant.
Abutu said the suspect was arrested on the strength of information available to the command, adding that the long arm of the law would soon catch up with the suspected criminals wherever they might be hiding.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports that the deceased victim, was said to be travelling in company of other occupants, in a Lexus 330 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) between Ewu-Ekiti/Ayetoro-Ekiti Road in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti, when the gunmen attacked them.