Three unidentified women were kidnapped in Ekiti State on Friday afternoon by unknown gunmen.
The women were kidnapped with their husbands and unspecified number of children along Igbole-Igbosin road while travelling in a Toyota RAV 4 Sports Utility Vehicle to Ibadan, Oyo state, for a wedding.
It was gathered that their captors later dropped the men and the children while the women were driven away in the car after collecting the phones and other valuables from the victims.
The husbands and the children were said to be wailing profusely until some sympathisers came to their aid.
The State Police Public Relations Officer, Mr. Alberto Adeyemi, confirmed the report to our correspondent.
“The Divisional Police Officer in Ido called in today to give the report about the kidnapped women. We have already launched investigation into the case but I can’t speak about it,” he said.
The whereabouts of the women remained unknown while contact had not been established with the families as of press time.
No fewer than five people, including a former Chief Medical Director of Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Dr Patrick Adegun; his wife, Kikelomo; a senior nurse at the Federal Teaching Hospital, Ido Ekiti, Mrs Margaret Aladenika; and a lecturer of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, had been kidnapped in the last two weeks in the state.
As a measure aimed at cubbing the rampant kidnap of its members, the Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Ekiti chapter has advised doctors to remove the association’s stickers from their vehicles and stop going out at night.
The association said the measure is aimed at putting an end to the frequent harassment and kidnapping of their members by abductors who erroneously believed that medical personnel receive higher pay than other workers in the State civil service.
The doctors equally frowned at what it called lackadaisical attitude of the police and the Department of State Services, DSS, toward the kidnap cases.
The doctors argued that they deserve to be protected considering the special services they render to the society.
The Ekiti State chapter of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), recently said seven doctors have received threats of kidnap from unknown gunmen.
Akinbote, revealed that the seven doctors received text messages from kidnappers, saying they could be picked up anytime.
Members of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, Akure Zone, had also called for overhauling of the security chiefs in the State.
They hinged the call on ‘poor professional handling of the kidnap of a member of the association, Dr Femi Omisore of the Obafemi Awolowo University in Ekiti state last week..
Omisore was kidnapped on May 6, while his driver Saheed was shot in the head and his vehicle set ablaze “for stressing the captors while being chased.”
NMA and ASUU said on Tuesday that the Police and the State Security Service had not been handling the matter in most professional way.
Aside Adegun, his wife and Mrs. Margaret Aladenika of the Federal Medical Centre, Ido, a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Dr Femi Omisore, who was abducted last weekend.
Meanwhile, the Ekiti State Governor, Ayodele Fayose, has written the Inspector General of Police, Mr Solomon Arase, calling for his intervention to stem the spate of kidnappings that had hit the state in the last few weeks.
In a May 15 letter, signed by the governor, he requested the IG’s special intervention in removing the fear the people of the state were experiencing following numerous cases of abductions of innocent people.
According to a statement in Ado-Ekiti on Friday by his Chief Press Secretary, Mr Idowu Adelusi, the governor promised the people that the situation would soon be put under control.
The letter read in part, “It is with great concern that I am appealing to you to help in our quest for a lasting solution to the spate of kidnappings and abductions in our dear state. The development has created fear in the minds of our people and no meaningful development can take place under such atmosphere.
“As a responsible government, we are taking all necessary steps to curtail and put an end to these dastardly acts, and we believe a special attention from your office on the matter to our state, would no doubt, lead to finding a quick solution to the problem.
Kidnappers lay siege on Ekiti, take 3 more women into custody + NMA says 7 doctors get threat SMS
