Former Speaker of the Oyo State House of Assembly, Asimiyu Alarape, has sounded the alarm over a recent surge in kidnappings on the Ibadan-Oyo Expressway.
Alarape shared a harrowing account from a neighbor who was abducted and later released by kidnappers.
The victim recounted how a gang, including the bus driver, disguised themselves as passengers before forcing the bus to stop midway.
The gang robbed the passengers of their phones and money, then led most of them into a nearby forest.
Alarape warned that the road has become a hotspot for kidnappings, urging people to exercise caution.
The former speaker, in a statement, wrote: “Ibadan to Oyo road is now a kidnapper’s den. One of my neighbours who boarded a bus going to Oyo yesterday was stopped in the middle of the road.
“The kidnappers, disguised as passengers numbering up to eight, marched them into the forest.
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“After they had collected their phones, they released three of them (including my neighbour) and took others into the deep forest. Only God knows their fate inside the kidnapper’s den.
“Also, the driver of the eighteen-passenger bus was among the kidnapper gang. Let’s create this awareness that Oyo/Ibadan road is not safe again and let our family and friends be informed also.”
In response, Oba Nureni Akintola Anabi, National President of the Soludero Hunters Association, called for the state government and police to authorize hunters to clear the forest of criminals, highlighting their familiarity with the terrain and readiness to act.
In his reaction, the National President of Soludero Hunters Association, Oba Nureni Akintola Anabi said this has been their cries that the state government and the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, should give the hunters approval to comb the forests.
“You know we have been crying that the Oyo State Government should empower us even if they are not giving us anything to enter the forest. We have been working in the forest for a long.
“But, we want to be careful so that we are not used as guinea pigs at the end of the day. If we go into the forest without their permission, they may query who sent us there. We are familiar with the terrain and we know what to do.
“Whenever the authorities give us the go-ahead, we will smoke the bandits out of the forests and hand them over to the law enforcement agents,” he said.