Ekiti residents barricade highway to protest abduction of four persons

Some residents of Ado-Ekiti and lkere-Ekiti, on Wednesday, protested the kidnapping of four persons by gunmen.

In August, gunmen attacked some travellers between Ewu-Ekiti and Aiyetoro-Ekiti, killing one person and abducting two others.

A month prior, gunmen abducted four farmers in Ikosu-Ekiti, Moba LGA of Ekiti state, and demanded a ransom of N50m.

The recent kidnap incident allegedly took place on Tuesday, August 30, in Goshen Land community, Ajebamidele area of Ado-Ekiti, located on the way to Ikere-Ekiti.

NAN reports that a married couple and a man said to be a pastor were among the kidnapped victims.

The wife was said to have been trailed to her residence by the kidnappers who were armed with AK-47 rifles. Her husband was said to have gone out in an attempt to rescue her but was also abducted.

The angry residents trooped out in the early hours of Wednesday to barricade the highway, lamenting that kidnapping was becoming incessant in Ekiti.

Samuel Fasua, chairman of Goshen Landlords Association, said the protest was staged to draw the attention of government to the incident.

Emmanuel Ayodeji, another resident, said his sister-in-law was among those kidnapped. He said the abductors had called the family to demand a ransom of N10 million.

According to NAN, while the protest lasted, there were long queues of vehicles on both sides of the Ado-Ekiti-Ikere highway with police officers appealing to the residents to allow a free flow of traffic.

The road was reopened at about 10.05am after the police succeeded in convincing the protesters to allow traffic to resume.