Kidnappers are not done with the farming community in Igbodu village of Epe, Lagos.
Twenty-five days after they abducted four workers from a farm in the area, kidnappers returned to the same village kidnapping seven people this time.
The latest abduction happened around 5am today while security guards were asleep after a long night of vigilance. Farm workers who were hoping to spend February 14 celebrating Valentine’s Day with their loved ones were whisked away at gunpoint.
“The sound of strange voices woke me up early this morning,” Isaac Ayuba, a farm worker who was lucky to escape, told Newsroom Nigeria.
“Before I know what was going on, I saw a man ordering me to open the door to the room where I slept.
“I noticed there were other men in the premises. I counted six of them and they were all armed. They were ordering my colleagues to open their doors,” he said.
“One of the other men fired his weapon and the whole place was in commotion. Even the armed man standing at my door was confused. So I used the door to push him aside and ran towards the fence. He shot at me as I did but missed.
“That was how I escaped,” he said.
Isaac and a farm manager called the police who visited the facility and found no one. All the other workers had been kidnapped.
“Marcus, James, Modiu, Alfred and three other farms workers are missing,” Isaac said, “The police did not find them.”
We understand the police are investigating the case.
At about 8pm on January 20, a lady and three men were kidnapped in the same community.
The lady, identified as 24-year-old Ifeoluwa Olabiyi, a graduate of Nutrients and Biotechnology, Ladoke Akintola University (LAUTECH), had only resumed work on the farm two weeks before.
They were freed after kidnappers were reportedly paid N2 million and some bottles of gin.
Reports say the kidnappers initially demanded N20 million.
Police are struggling to arrest a worrying trend of kidnappings Nigeria. Impact of the recent introduction of an anti-kidnapping force in Lagos remain unseen.
Nigeria’s unemployment rate has, not surprisingly risen with the rate of crime.
