30-year-old man goes missing in Ondo
A 30-year-old Akindoyo Gideon linked to the lingering communal crisis between Irele and Igbobini communities has been reportedly missing in the Irele local government area of Ondo State.
The Informant247 gathered Gideon was seen last week, Monday, June 11, 2024, between the Igbobini and Ode Irele communities in Ese Odo local government and Irele local government areas before he went missing.
According to a source, the missing person was seen when he headed to his parent’s farm at Lumeko village, located between Igbobini and Ode Irele communities, adding that Gideon travelled home to meet his parents and later went to the farm with his motorcycle to harvest cassava but was yet to return home since then.
The source informed that the development raised suspicion that he might have been kidnapped on the farm because his motorcycle was seen on the farm while his whereabouts remained unknown.
Narrating how the boy went missing, his mother, Mrs Janet Akindoyo, said the boy arrived in Irele on Sunday, June 10, and went to the farm to harvest the following day but had not returned to the time of filling this report.
“He has not returned, search party saw his motorcycle where he parked it, but we haven’t seen him. I’m appealing to the security and the people to help find him,” she appealed.
Confirming the incident, Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Mrs Funmilayo Odunlami, said the command men were in the forest searching for the missing student.
According to Odunlami, “Our men are working in the forest in search of the person, and investigation into the matter had begun.”
Meanwhile, the Senate secretariat of the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) has urged security agencies to find the missing student.
In the statement signed by its leader, Henry Okunomo, NANS linked the missing of the 30-year-old Gideon to the lingering communal crisis between Irele and Igbobini communities, calling on the leaders of the two communities to find the missing student dead or alive.
The statement read, “According to information gathered from the National President of Irele Local Government Students and a community leader, Dr Adekugbe Erik, the student had travelled home to gather foodstuffs from his community, only to be abducted while working on his father’s farm.
“The community leader reported that the student’s disappearance coincided with an attack by the Igbobini community, resulting in destroyed homes and properties.
“We categorically demand that the leadership of both Irele and Igbobini communities produce the student, either dead or alive, within the next 72 hours. failure to do so will compel us to relocate the NANS secretariat to the affected communities, where we will remain until the student’s safe return is secured.”
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the kidnapped individual as a student of Al-Hikmah University, Igbaja. This error has been corrected.
