A 29-year-old man, Olabiyisi Mobolaji Charles, was rescued by an agent with the Oyo State Command of Western Nigeria Security Network (WNSN) code Amotekun, who was imprisoned in his suffering 15 hours after he was kidnapped.
The victim was from Akinmoorin but lived in Jobele, who was kidnapped from his home at 1 a.m. Friday and brought to the bush.
However, community members immediately called the Amotekun office and quickly deployed agents to rescue the victims.
Mr. Kazeem Babalola Akinro, the second commander of Oyo Amotekun, told the Sunday Tribune that security agencies were kidnapped under the leadership of the Afagio local government on Friday, February 28.
“Immediately, we called agents from our four local government areas – Iodong, Oyo West, Afigio and Atiba, and went all out to rescue him. We also left Ibadan’s operational headquarters to join. All night, we were combing the bushes to find out where they were,” he said.
“At about 4:30 pm, our roads crossed with the kidnappers in the bushes. When they saw us, they started shooting and we answered and worked hard to save the kidnapping victim. He even shouted, warning us that he was the victim so he would not be hit by a bullet. We couldn’t get any of them because of the safety of the victim.”
Charles said he was an interior decorator and he talked about his experiences in the publication.
“About 1:09 am. On Friday, our dogs started barking. We saw some people zooming in the fence and entering our house in Jobele. They started shooting and tried to break the door. I tried to open the front door but couldn’t open it, so I decided to open the back door. When I noticed that they weren’t there, I ran away. My younger brother was hiding on the ceiling. But they decided to go with my wife, so I decided to give myself up so they could give up on her,” he said.
“They told my wife to go back inside. They tightened my hands with a long, strong rope (indicated). People in the community immediately called the Amotekun operator and responded quickly. No more than two minutes, I saw the Amotekun operator, but one of them saw their t-shirt, I used a knife to tear my t-shirt and they didn’t tell me, told me to speak.
“A kidnapper who abducted the AK-47 rifle began to wave the oncoming trailer driver when they wanted to cross the highway with me. They had no choice. They had no choice.
“They were very cautious in their movements. For me, Agent Amotokin was also combing the surrounding bush area and the kidnappers could feel their movements. We arrived at a place to drink water from the stream. I needed to dehydrate, and they stopped and let me stop. They took me to the other side so that the stream could get into the water.
“They were very cautious in their movements. For me, Agent Amotokin was also combing the surrounding bush area and the kidnappers could feel their movements. We arrived at a place to drink water from the stream. I needed to dehydrate, and they stopped and let me stop. They took me to the other side so that the stream could get into the water.
They suspect that safety operations personnel are following them. They said I called my family. They called my father on the phone and started reducing the ransom payments to 300 million n30 million n30 million n30 million n30 million, 20 million n20 million n15 million and later 10 million n10 million n10 million n10 million.
“As they were angry because they left the bush in despair. Their hands were tied, they told me to face to face and start beating me with the flat side of the scimitar. I begged them to have no money. I told them to save my life so that I could go sell the car and give them money. They laughed and laughed at me thinking they were fools.
“They moved again, but when we walked to the road to the farm we just stumbled upon Agent Amotekun. Initially, I didn’t see them. I just noticed the guys holding the rope used to tie their hands down. I shouted I was the victim, I was the victim because the kidnappers escaped to me and if not, they would have escaped.
“They started to take action to escape. At that time I knew they had other guns besides the AK-47 rifle. However, the Amotekun operators reacted to the shooting. I believe some of them must have escaped the gun injury. I didn’t know there was no cell phone or grant that night. I didn’t get any cell phone or grant.”
He revealed that he had not received any food for food during his stay with the kidnappers.
“I had nothing to eat except the dates they gave me, and I wasn’t used to eating them. I was thirsty and thought I would die, and then they went to the stream to drink water for me. Later, they saw cashews and fat trees and picked the fruit and let us all have dinner at night,” Charles said.
The rescued victim praised Amotekun operators, saying they would lower the kidnappers if not to save him from being hit in the firefight.
“They (Amotekun) still tracked the kidnappers after they escaped to see if anyone would find anyone injured. I saw the kidnappers smoking but found illegal drugs when they were recovering from the camouflage by Amotekun,” he said.
He revealed that kidnappings in Jobele town so often, saying he was the ninth or tenth person with experience, rather than talking about Ilora and Awe, too.
Survivors further mentioned that things reached the point where protests against the ongoing kidnappings were being protested on Thursday.
“But the kidnappers kidnapped me a few hours after the protest, giving me the icing on the cake. They even told me that they were initially surveillance on my home and seeing me feeding the dogs, which got them away. They said they had been near my home since about 10 p.m..”
He further said: “These people (kidnappers) didn’t know me before coming to me. They not only kidnapped people along the road or the bush area, but also targeted fenced and well-built accommodation.”
He called on the government to further empower Amotekun, as Oyo residents see them as saviors in terms of their lives and property security.
