By Ahmed Ajikobi
More facts have emerged on how wife of a vigilante , Kafayat Jamiu who was kidnapped in Eruku , Ekiti Local Government of kwara state penultimate Friday was rescued from the bandits. Kafayat was abducted while sleeping in her room by unidentified gunmen.
National Pilot exclusively gathered that it was like action film when member of the vigilante men and the Kidnappers engaged in gun battle, penultimate saturday.
A vigilante source under condition of anonymity told our reporter yesterday that, following the abduction of Kafayat, the matter was reported to the nearest police station.
” We went down to our command headquarters in Okolowo, Ilorin to report the matter to our state commander,Saadu Bolorunduro. We got to our command headquarters late in the evening.
” Our commander said it was late and promised to come down to Eruku on Saturday but said he was going to hold meeting with other men of the command, which he did the following day.”
” He came and also held a meeting with us before he met t with the DPO and took his permission to join the police in the rescue mission.”
” The police gave us go ahead. The suspects had already called the victim’s family to bring N3 million naira before they can release the victim and her child.”
“The Kidnappers called again but this time around our commander engaged in the negotiation with them, begging them to accept N400,000.”
” They agreed on four hundred thousand Naira and they asked us to bring it along with a Pack of can Malt, pack of Peak milk and other drinks. We took the money to them around 7pm. They asked us to come to somewhere in Kaba, Kogi state to drop the money.”
” On getting there, they were called but they said they were no more in Kaba ,adding that we should go back to Osi area of Ekiti, kwara state.”
” When we reached the place, they told us to go back to a forest area very close to Eruku that we will see some bunch of leaves on the road that will serve as pathfinder for us.”
“When we got to the place, three of our men went into the bush with 400,000 naira and met them there. They collected the money and count it. They collected the milk,pack of can Malt and other drinks. While they were counting the ransom money, our other vigilante men were hiding somewhere.”
” To scare our men away, the bandits shot into the air. It was the gunshots that led our commander and the remaining vigilante members to where the kidnappers were.”
” As they saw the vigilante operatives, they started firing at us and the gun battle started.”
” They ran and drop their Ak 47 guns but didn’t drop the money. We gave them hot chase. We started searching till 1am in the bush. Suddenly we heard voice shouting for help on getting there we saw our member’s wife. She said her child is with the kidnappers.”
” We In testified our search and in the process we heard the voice of the child crying in the bush . On getting to the area, the crying child turned out to to be child of the rescued woman. The suspects had run away.”
The source explained further that, the rescued woman said that, the Kidnappers were five in number.
” Three of them went to collect the ransom while two stay with her. But when they heard the gunshots they were scared and started dragging her away.”
” She said when they heard the voice of vigilante operatives and discovered that they were getting closer, they decided to leave her in the bush and ran away.”
When contacted, the state commander of the vigilante, Saadu Bolorunduro told our reporter that, the VGN worked hand in hand with the police to achieved that success.
” We urged the police, Government,well meaning people state to help us with logistics, vehicles, motorcycles to make our work easier.
” I thank the commissioner of police for the support he gave us in the rescue mission. I also thank the Eruku DPO for the support and the believe he had in us.
” We promise to continue to work with all the security agencies in the state to fight crime and bring it to the minimum level.”
