•Drivers too, Oni shocked

By Gbenga Ariyibi

Ado Ekiti – A  first class monarch in Ekiti State, the Attah of  Aiyede, Oba Adeleye Orisagbemi, and the acting provost, College of Education, Ikere Ekiti, Dr Gabriel Olowoyo,  were, Saturday, kidnapped at different  locations and  killed in an auto-crash as the abductors tried to escape with them.

Sunday Vanguard reliably gathered that the monarch  was  coming from a function in Lagos  with his son, Lanre and driver when they were kidnapped   along  Ilawe-Ado Ekiti Road.

The kidnappers, numbering seven, allegedly  operated in a  Liteace bus and raided as they  passed through Ikole Ekiti  until  they got to Ilasa  in Ekiti East Local Government area of the state  where they  kidnapped  Olowoyo,  his personal assistant and  driver as they  were returning from Abuja.

The kidnappers  were said to have intercepted the provost’s  Toyota Camry official car after  buying fuel in the town.

The kidnappers were said to have ordered all their victims into  their bus  and drove towards Kabba Lokoja Road where, upon sighting a patrol team   of the Federal Road Safety Commission [FRSC], the driver  lost control of the vehicle  and crashed into a tree, killing the monarch, the acting provost and their drivers.

According to Ekiti State Commissioner for Environment, Otunba Segun Olanrewaju,  who hails from Ayede Ekiti,   the monarch’s  son, Lanre, survived the accident, but suffered  fracture.

He explained that the provost and the two aides  were returning from Abuja where Olowoyo  had gone for a meeting.

Ekiti State governor, Engr. Segun Oni, yesterday, described  the death of the monarch,  provost  and their drivers as shocking.

Chief press secretary to the governor, Mr. Wale Ojo_Lanre, in a statement, said the governor was shocked when he received the news of the abduction and death.