Gunmen kidnap BEDC driver in Ondo, request N10m ransom
Kidnappers of Mr Seun Emmanuel, a driver at the Benin Electricity Distribution Company (BEDC) have requested N10 million as ransom.
Emmanuel was kidnaped on Tuesday on Owo-Ifon Road in Ondo State during an official assignment to Akure, the capital City of Ondo State alongside the manager of the company.
The spokesperson of the Police in Ondo State, SP Funmilayo Odunlami while confirming the kidnap, said the anti-kidnap section of the police in the state had mobilised its operatives to the affected scene to effect the release of Emmanuel.
“We are working on the matter. Our men at the anti-kidnap unit are working towards rescuing the victim,’’ she said.
A person who witnessed the scenario, and who spoke as an anonymous said the two became victims of kidnap of some gunmen who blocked the road just close to Elegbeka town on the Owo-Ifon Road and sporadically shot at their BEDC-branded van.
This made the driver lose control as the van summersaulted into the nearby bush.
The eyewitness also narrated that the manager became unconscious and the abductors thought he was dead and abandoned him, but whisked the driver away to an unknown location.
The eyewitness said the onlookers enabled the freedom of the manager from the affected scene after the hoodlums had absconded.
‘‘The bandits whisked the driver into the bush from where they demanded an initial ransom of N100 million from his family, but later settled for N10milion,’’ the source said.
