By Joshua Tosin Ogunsakin 
The Ijemikin of Akure Kingdom, Chief Oluwole Omotayo, has been hospitalised, reportedly due to shock and distress, a week after nine of his workers were kidnapped.
The victims, all surveyors, were abducted at Owode, Ilu Abo, where they had gone for an assignment on behalf of Chief Omotayo. Their captors are demanding N100 million as ransom for their release.
The abduction sparked protests in Akure, the Ondo State capital, on Tuesday, as women took to the streets demanding action against the rising wave of kidnappings.
Sources revealed that the incident had taken a toll on the Ijemikin of Akure, leading to his hospitalisation.
Kidnappings have been on the rise across the state. Last week, Mr. Olanrewaju Oyeleye, a 50-year-old farmer who recently returned to Nigeria to establish a mechanized farm, was abducted along with his manager at Oba Ile, Akure North LGA.
Speaking during the protest, Oluwatoyin Arowosafe, one of the demonstrators, lamented the prolonged captivity of the victims, urging authorities to ensure their immediate rescue.
“Many of our people were kidnapped, and they are demanding for 100 million. They went to the farms, they are all Surveyors and workers of High Chief Ijemikin of Akure, Oluwole Omotayo, and they were kidnapped.
“Today make it one week, now we are going to governor office now, to meet the governor, to help us because there is no how we can get the 100 million to rescue them.”
The placards carrying women stormed the streets of Akure and blocked the popular Oba Adesida road.
They also besieged the Alagbaka Governor’s office where they sat in front of the entrance gate.
A sister to one of the kidnapped victims, Comfort Afolabi, said the nine Surveyors were abducted last week.
Afolabi said the kidnappers demanded N50m before they would begin negotiation for their release.
She said the kidnappers have placed the ransom at N100m before they would release their victims.
Speaking to the protesters on behalf of the governor, the Special Adviser on Union Matters and Special Duties, Bola Taiwo, said the state government is taking the issue of the security serious and not pretending about it.
He however, blamed the kidnapped surveyors for going to the site without security operatives, after collecting huge money from their client.
Taiwo noted that those behind the abduction of the surveyors are living with the community and the community should be fished out within the community.
He said: “We shall speak with your leaders if they have reported the incident to the police. If they have not reported to the police, they should go there that’s when government would act.
“Nowadays, any surveyors going to site should go with police escorts, if they do, no gunmen would abduct them.
No one can kidnap anyone without internal collaborators.
“You shall now go back to Ilu-Abo and cry out to those who abducted the surveyors to release them. No Hausa or Fulani man can come to Ilu-Abo and kidnap without the connivance of one of the natives.
“It is your people that kidnapped the nine surveyors. We will meet with your leaders and discuss with them”
Ondo Police Commissioner, Wilfred Afolabi, had admitted that the state Police Command lacked requisite logistics to tackle kidnappings and other criminals.
Meanwhile, some residents of the communities attacked by herdsmen at the weekend have said they they took the corpse of the slain victims to mortuary in Edo State.
They said some families have taken their lived ones to their villages for burial.
Speaking under anonymity, the residents said they were shocked at the statement by an aide of Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, Gbenga Etiba, that there was no such an attack.
The Nation