A lecturer at the Ondo State University of Science and Technology (OSUSTECH) in Okitipupa, Ondo State, Prof. Gideon Okedayo, has been kidnapped at Akoko Junction on the Igara-Auch highway in Edo State.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the latest abduction took place barely two months after the killing of the daughter of a chieftain of the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere on the Ondo-Ore highway in Ondo State.
Recall that the daughter of Afenifere Chairman, Pa Reuben Fasorotin, Mrs Funke Olakurin, was murdered by people reported to be Fulani herdsmen on the Ondo-Ore highway in Ondo State on July 12.
Okedayo, of the Department of Mathematical Sciences and Acting Dean of the School of Post Graduate Studies in OSUSTECH, was kidnapped on Sept. 5 on his way to his hometown in Igara, Edo State.
The lecturer’s driver, Mr Sunday Omonigbo, who spoke with NAN on telephone on Friday on the development, said the abduction happened at a bad spot on Akoko Junction on the Igara-Auchi highway.
Omonigbo said that Okedayo’s official car, a Toyota Corolla car with registration number, 06X47OD, was stopped abruptly by gunmen, who fired gun shots in the air.
“The gunmen who looked like Fulani herdsmen stopped us and fired gun shots in the air. They cut my right hand with cutlass, ordered me to come down and took my boss away in his official car.
“I ran to the Igara Police Station to report the matter. As I am speaking with you now, my boss is nowhere to be found,” Omonigbo stated.
The Chairman of the OSUSTECH Chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr Dipo Akomolafe, who also confirmed the incident, told NAN that the institution was in disarray after the news was received.
Akomolafe said he had reported the matter to the Okitipupa Police Division, pleading with security agencies to rescue Okedayo from his abductors.