Kidnappers Strike In Ondo, Abduct 32 Passengers; Director’s Beheaded Body Abandoned

By Ayodele Oni

Suspected kidnappers have abducted 32 persons who were in transit in Ondo State.

The victims were said to be returning from a burial service in Benin City, Edo State over the weekend when the incident happened.

It was learnt that the victims were ambushed along Benin/ Owo highway by the gunmen while travelling in a Coaster bus.

Reports explained that operatives of the Amotekun Corps, have been deployed to Benin-Ifon to Owo forest in search of the abducted persons.

Commandant of the corps in the state, Adetunji Adeleye confirmed the incident and said that the command would do all possible to rescue the victims.

In order to release the victims, the Amotekun Corps and other security agencies, according to Adeleye, had been informed and had since started a search and rescue operation.

Also at the weekend in Akure, the mutilated body of a Director in the Ondo State Teaching Service Commission (TESCOM), Mr. Gbenga Olofingboyegun, was discovered abandoned in a primary school premises.

Olofingboyegun, who was the Director of the Department of Research and Statistics in TESCOM, was declared missing on Thursday, after the close of work.

His body was found on Sunday dumped within the premises of a primary school at Oyemekun area of the state capital.

Family and friends had suspected that he was a victim of kidnapping and were waiting for the call of his supposed abductors for a ransom payment.

Efforts to trace him were fruitless until his decomposing body was found in Saint Theresa Primary School beside Saint Peter’s Unity School in Akure.

Eyewitnesses said Olofingboyegun’s head and other sensitive parts of the body were cut off and taken away by the suspected assailants.

A close relation said he was still in office dress of suits and tie that he wore to the office when his decomposing body  was found.

However, the Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Funmi Odunlami who confirmed the discovering of the mutilated human body, said she was not sure about the identity of the decomposing body.