Suspected Kidnappers Attack Travellers Along Lagos-Ibadan Expressway

Officers of the Ogun State Police Command on Tuesday battled with suspected kidnappers during an attack on commuters on the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway. 

The vehicle was reportedly heading to Lagos from Ibadan when the incident happened.The passengers and the driver were said to have scampered for safety as some hid under bus. 

In a video taken after the incident, the victims were seen writhing in pains. It also  captured the bus riddled with bullets as one of the passengers narrated their ordeal. 

He said, “We (passengers) were only lucky to escape the gunmen, but many of us have been injured by the bullets and our bus has been badly damaged too.”

Another video showing a man who had been shot said,  “I thought I was dead, having been shot by them. They faced our vehicle, shooting at us; we all lay down except the driver, who was the target. They thought we were all dead and retreated into the bush. The joint patrol team of police officers from Ogun and Oyo states arrived at the scene later.”

It was gathered that the men were dressed in military camouflage and had stormed the road from the bush before the Sagamu Interchange and started shooting the bus. However, the intervention of policemen in the area foiled the attack.

The Ogun state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola  Oyeyemi confirmed the attack.
Oyeyemi however said he was not aware of any injury sustained by passengers from the incident. 

In his words, “The report sent to me by the DPO, who was on ground, did not indicate that any passenger was shot”.
“The incident happened yesterday (Tuesday); our men that were there engaged them and they foiled the attempt to kidnap people traveling on that road. The policemen engaged them and even some of them escaped with bullet wounds.”

Recall that a similar incident occurred at the Sat Guru Maharaji Garden, Ibadan end of the expressway on October 27, abducting five persons and killing several others.
Among the kidnapped victims were students of the Moshood Abiola Polytechnic, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and a former Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University of Ibadan, Adigun Agbaje.

One of the victims, Aminat Taiwo, revealed that her father paid a ransom of N3.2m to the kidnappers before she and her friend were release.

A security expert, Jackson Ojo noted that the frequent attacks by kidnappers in the South-West showed that they had penetrated every state.

 He said,  “I think our government should wake up and have the political will to attack these people and comb every part of Nigeria at the same time”.
“Let there be raids on these people simultaneously so there won’t be any escape route or haven for them again.”