*Pays N5.5n ransom for the release

*As affected victims speak on their experience

By Adeola Badru

The current Chairman of Iganna Local Government Development Council in Oyo State, Mr Olayiwola Adeleke, has recalled his ill experience as one of the victims of Fulani kidnappers in the axis of Ibarapa, as he was made to sleep on the floor for six days and six nights before a ransom of sum of N5.5m was paid for his freedom.

He made this known while speaking with Vanguard in Iganna, saying that was his first time of speaking to journalists about his experience as he was abducted on his way to Ibadan to attend an important meeting with Governor Seyi Makinde by the Fulani kidnappers.

He recalled: “It happened on October 25, 2020, on Sunday around 4.30 pm. I was travelling to Ibadan in preparation for the monthly meeting with the Executive Governor of the state, Engr Seyi Makinde. I decided to leave on Sunday so as to pass the night in Ibadan to avoid getting late to Ibadan and attend the meeting early.”

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“When we got to Gboga going to Awaye, all of a sudden, we had gunshots and before we could make a way out of the vehicle, these people came out of the bush with guns and knives in their hands and commanded us to open the door and started slapping me and my driver, they beat us mercilessly, shooting guns to scare away people, they took us out of the car, led us into the bush and that was how we were with them for six days before the ransom was paid.”

“They were eight in number, very young boys and they were Fulanis, they spoke Fulani language and one of them was speaking Yoruba language but not fluently as well as English but they were all Fulanis.”

“The experience I had with them were bitter. The night they took us in, they took us to the hill of a mountain and we stayed there for the night and on Monday morning, they moved us again to the inner part of the bush and when we got there around 5 pm, they ask us to lay down and obviously, they have been using the place for kidnapping activities because it is a well-prepared place for victims and around 7 pm, I was given my phone to make calls and contact families, friends and they want to collect N200, before that time, they had already collected our phones, ID card, my bag where I kept some documents with some money I intended to use to pay the school fee for one of my children in Ibadan, they ransacked the bag. We laid down all through as they didn’t allow us to sit down. After making calls, they collected the phone back and started beating me and my driver again.”

“They told me they knew my identity and they have gotten information from my area and they have been monitoring me for a while like a week and we never knew the insider that gave them the information about me,” the LCDA boss narrated?

Also in an interview with this correspondent, residents of Asenlera also shared their experience with of the Fulanis as many have been affected badly and called on the state government to call for total eviction of Fulanis as they are living in fear and they could no longer work on their farmlands and pointed out that this issue had been on for years with no reactions from the government or the police command in the state.

Speaking with one of the victims (name withheld), he said he was working on his farm when cows invaded the farm and while he was trying to question the Fulani was rearing them, he was shot in the leg.

“Immediately I saw the cows moving into my, I made attempts to stop them, but the Fulani herdsman shot immediately and I could not shout for help and I was the only one in the bush. Fulanis and I are like day and night that must not meet as they rendered me useless and I can’t work on the farmland due to injuries inflicted on me.”

The Caretaker Chairman of Ibarapa Northwest Local Council Development Area, Mr Okediji Samuel Olusegun, also corroborated the allegations levelled against the Seriki Fulani of Igangan, as he gave details that the Seriki had been fingered in the series of security challenges in the area many times.

Vanguard News Nigeria