Grieving and desperate residents of Ondo and Oyo States took their rage to the streets this week, blockading major highways some with the bodies of slain neighbours as a wave of kidnappings and killings pushed communities to a breaking point.
In Ondo State, furious residents of Ilu-Abo, Kajola and Owode communities near the Akure Airport dragged the corpses of two freshly killed victims onto the Akure-Owo highway on Tuesday, vowing to remain there until Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa came to personally address them. Three other community members had been abducted in the same attack.
The highway blockade came less than 24 hours after gunmen seized Joseph Aladesuyi, Secretary of Okeluju Local Council Development Area and Managing Director of Jotina Farms, along with two others, on his farm in Ilu-Abo community. His abductors have since demanded a N100 million ransom, making brief telephone contact with his family early Tuesday. Family sources disclosed that Aladesuyi was shot in the hand during the abduction.
When Ondo Police Commissioner Adebowale Lawal arrived to appeal for calm and the restoration of traffic flow, protesters turned him away, refusing to budge. Lawal pledged to deploy additional officers and tactical units to the area and later paid a separate visit to traditional ruler Oba Olu Falae to reaffirm the security agencies’ commitment. As a show of progress, police announced the arrest of Abdullahi Lawal, described as the mastermind behind a kidnapping operation in the Ikare-Akoko area, who had earlier evaded capture despite sustaining gunshot wounds.
Demonstrators carrying placards reading “We Are Dying, Save Our Soul”, “Mr Governor, Please Assist Us” and “We Cannot Go to Farms Again” brought traffic on the expressway linking southern and northern Nigeria to a grinding halt.
“Almost every day, we hear about kidnappings around the airport road,” one resident told journalists. “People are living in fear, and many farmers can no longer go to their farms. We cannot continue like this.”
Hundreds of kilometres away in Oyo State, a parallel drama unfolded in Jobele, Afijio Local Government Area, where residents blocked the Ibadan-Oyo-Ogbomoso highway over a relentless surge in kidnappings. Community leaders say Afijio has recorded at least seven abduction incidents recently, with the latest attack occurring between Saturday night and Sunday morning. A victim suffered such severe machete wounds that one of his hands was subsequently amputated at the hospital.
Protesters, including students, also demanded to know why a suspect connected to the attacks had reportedly been released by authorities. “We are not leaving this road until our safety is guaranteed,” demonstrators declared.
Oyo State Police spokesman Ayanlade Olayinka confirmed that the Commissioner of Police had dispatched both the Area Commander and the Divisional Police Officer to the scene to restore order.
Both incidents reflect a deepening security crisis across the South-West, where rural and peri-urban communities say they have been abandoned to the mercy of armed gangs while authorities offer pledges but little protection.
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