Ojo Lagos now under kidnappers siege

Recently, the alarming rate at which people are kidnapped in Ojo Local Government Area of Lagos has been a burden on the residents living in the area. It  has gotten to a point where kidnappers now await their victims around the creeks and school premises to abduct pupils and other residents. The council, bordered by creeks and nicknamed by politicians as ‘Ojo Majority,’ has continued to record persistent kidnap cases which have thrown the communities into confusion. 

The kidnapped cases started with school pupils, compelling the Director-General of the Office of Education Quality Assurance, OEQA in the state, Mrs. Ronke Soyombo, to urge parents to take their children to and from schools daily to avoid being abused sexually or kidnapped. The case started with the kidnap of three, four-year-old children in Ago-Tapa community, Okokomaiko, Ojo Local Government. The three—two males and one female—were identified as Chibuzor Nwosu, Bayo Adeyemi and Barakat Saka. Chibuzor Nwosu, male, was kidnapped on June 24; Miss Barakat Saka, female, four-year-old went missing June 28, and Bayo Adeyemi, male, was abducted on June 28. Bayo, a pupil of Fazil Omar Ahmadiyya, Primary School, Okokomaiko, was said to have been kidnapped on his way home after closing hours. After this over three cases of child abduction in schools were foiled by the residents in the council. 
Aside this, the Former Commissioner for Rural Development, Mr. Cornelius Ojelabi, revealed at the Townhall meeting organized by the state government in Badagry, that his grandson and about five others were kidnapped by unknown gunmen, lamenting “their whereabouts have not been known.” Last Sunday, Ojelabi further disclosed that two persons were also kidnapped in the council within one week in July, 2016. His words, 

“The government needs to really focus on how the spate of kidnappings can be nipped in the bud in Lagos State. The issue of kidnapping is becoming alarming. Between Monday and Saturday, we recorded two others. The two persons kidnapped were above 30-years-old. “This is within a week. It is sad. We are ready to partner with the government to tackle this. Even as I sympathize with the community for the ugly incident but we all must realize that the issue of security is a collective responsibility. Wherever there is insecurity, the commercial activities in that corridor will be halted. There is need for us to police the creeks. That is where they have the wherewihal to attack the communities,” 

Other victims were traditional ruler abducted First among them was the kidnap of the Oniba of Iba Town, Oba Yushau Oseni on Saturday night from his palace when he was about taking his bath.
The State Police Public Relation Officer, PPRO,  Dolapo Badmos, said,

”the kidnappers are militants and it was because pipeline vandalism had been curtailed, they resortedsd to kidnapping. 

“We have been arresting kidnappers and this will not be different. The command is working with the Ogun police command to ensure that the issue of kidnapping is nipped in the bud in both states.”