Amotekun Engages Gunmen In Shootout, Rescues Kidnapped Traveller In Ekiti

Indigenous security outfit, Amotekun Corps, on Friday, engaged gunmen suspected to be kidnappers in a shootout after they attacked travellers on the Isan-Iludun-Ekiti highway in Oye Local Government Area of Ekiti State, kidnapping one person.

Retired Brigadier General Joe Komolafe, Amotekun Corps Commander in the state, who confirmed the incident, said that operatives of the corps alongside policemen engaged the gunmen in exchange of fire following a distress call.

According to him, the attack by suspected herdsmen became intermittently aggressive when the Corps and the police engaged the gunmen.

Komolafe, in a statement said that the assailants shot at the vehicle which was conveying the travellers on Friday, and abducted a traveller as the victims scampered for safety in the nearby bush.

He said that the attack, was however repelled by men of the Corps and the police when they arrived at the crime scene, a development which led to the rescue of a would-have-been victim.

“We actually got a distress call from the people of the area on Friday that some persons were abducted on the Iludun-Ekiti Road and quickly, we dashed down and were able to rescue one person from the kidnappers after my men gave them serious manhunt in the bush.

“According to information made available to us, the victims were ambushed at a bad spot and when they were trying to make a detour to escape, another set of gunmen came out from the bush from behind them and started shooting at the vehicle from both ends.

“In their wisdom, the victims hurriedly opened the vehicle and ran into the bush in different directions. They were pursued by the gunmen and abducted but we were able to rescue one of them,” Komolafe said.

He added that the kidnappers abandoned one of the victims while men of the corps and the police rattled through the wood to rescue other victim.

Komolafe urged residents of Ekiti State to stay calm as Amotekun men, in collaboration with other security agents, doubled their effort on rescuing the kidnapped victim and surveillance on all highways to guarantee the safety of travellers.

Earlier this year, governors of southwestern states inaugurated an indigenous security outfit, codenamed Amotekun Security Network, to address security challenges facing the region.

Ekiti State was one of the first states to institutionalise the security network as cases of kidnapping became more rampant in the State.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria, the situation became pronounced in the last two months with about three cases recorded within two weeks.

Only recently, a former Commissioner for Agriculture in Ekiti State, Mr Folorunso Olabode, was kidnapped on the same route while one of his political associates, a councillor, was shot dead by gunmen, NAN said in a report.

Chinese expatriates working on the new Iyin Road were also recently attacked on site by gunmen who killed one of their police escorts and took one of the expatriates away after seriously wounding another expatriate, it noted.