Unknown gunmen have reportedly kidnapped three construction workers rehabilitating the lkaramu/Akunnu Akoko highway in Akoko North West council area of Ondo state. The incident heightened tension and anxiety in Akoko areas of the state. Eyewitness account said that the gunmen stormed the site at about 6 pm on Tuesday and whisked three of the workers away. Identities of the victims could not be ascertained as at the time of going to Press. The victims were reportedly marched into the thick forest even as other workers watched helplessly.
Meanwhile, local hunters, vigilante and police have raised a search team to comb the forest around the axis. Police sources confirmed that the Divisional Police Officer, DPO, in charge of Okeagbe, Ade Akinwande, had led his men to comb the forest. The Acting Police Area commander for Ikare Akoko, Timibra Toikimo, has called on the people of Akoko to join hands with the police through information sharing and intelligence tips that can lead to the arrest of the criminals.
Toikimo commended the area PCRC for the assistance at various levels for the success of policing. The state police image maker, Tee Leo lkoro, confirmed the kidnap of the construction worker adding that police detectives have been deployed to the community to rescue the victims unhurt. Ikoro assured that the deployed officers would not leave the community until the victims are rescued. Recall that the traditional ruler of Auga, the Alauga of Auga Akoko, Oba Samuel Agunloye had appealed to the state government and the security agencies to consider the need to deploy security personnel to the lsowopo axis of the highway which shared same boundaries with both Edo and Kogi states.
Governor Rotimi Akeredolu last week promised to complete the 16.2 km Akunu-lkaramu-Oke-Agbe road that had been abandoned for 18 years by successive administration in the state within the next two months. Already, the road which had reached advance stage of completion witnessed government’s intervention during the administration of the late former governor Adebayo Adefarati administration. Akeredolu who spoke through the Works and Infrastructure commissioner in the state, Engr Raimi Aminu, after a tour of the road project assured that the 16.2Km will be completed within the next 60 days.
Source: Vanguard News Nigeria
