Jimoh Ibrahim's mother kidnapped
The persistent cry by stakeholders in Ondo state over the seeming insecurity in the state appears not to have been misplaced or exaggerated as the mother of Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, OFR, Mrs Omofemiwa Ramat Ibrahim was on Sunday, abducted at her home at Igbotako, Okiti-Pupa Local Government.
Huhuonline.com can confirm through dependable sources that a gang of four fully armed young men stormed the country home of the billionaire politician, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim and kidnapped his 65 year-old mother, Mrs. Mafe Jimoh.
Although, the Police Public Relations Officer in charge of Ondo State Command, Mr. Aremu Adeniran, further confirmed the incident on Monday, he explained that the kidnap was reported at the Igbotako Police Station around 11.30pm on Sunday night.
He said that his men had commenced full investigation into the matter to ensure that the woman was released unhurt.
Huhuonline.com gathered that the four gunmen had arrived the house, a one-storey building located in the outskirts of the town around 8.00pm and pretended to be customers who wanted to buy some locally made mats which the woman was selling.
The guard on duty, identified as Mr. Donatus Ekuma and presently answering questions at Igbotako Police Station, revealed that the old woman was upstairs when the kidnappers arrived.
Ekuma said, 'Four of them came in a vehicle. Two of them came down from the car and demanded to see Mama. They claimed to be her customers and that they wanted to buy some mats. I told them that Mama was resting upstairs but they insisted on seeing her personally and make their purchase and I obliged them'.
He however said that the story changed when the old woman came out to meet her would be 'customers' only to be held with force and dragged into their waiting vehicle.
'I immediately raised the alarm but the gunmen pointed their guns at me and other domestic staff on duty, ordering us to lie, face-down', he said.
It was further learnt that the driver of the woman was sent on an errand when the incident happened, and that he did not go with the car. The kidnappers, it was further gathered escaped with the old-woman on top speed.
Meanwhile the kidnappers were yet to demand any ransom from the family of the billionaire politician because she left her phone at home and she did not know any number off-hand but independent sources claim that the kidnappers are demanding for 1 billion naira as ransom.
Mrs. Ibrahim's abduction is another in a series of high profile kidnappings that has now become the hallmark of the state in the last two years.
Recall that on July 4, 2010 the state Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who also doubles as the chairman of Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Dr. Omotayo Dairo was kidnapped at Okada Town, along Lagos-Benin express road after attending a meeting at Idanre town where his abductors trailed him to the kidnap place late in the evening.
The aged mother of the state commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Mrs. Pege Wewe was kidnapped on October 17, 2010 in the state while Mrs. Juliana Ogunleye, wife of a Saudi Arabia based Medical Doctor, Idowu ogunleye was kidnapped on November 28, 2010.
Iyabo Basaru, daughter of the commissioner for Lands and Housing, Sikiru Basaru was kidnapped on June 21, 2009 at her parents' Oke Ijebu home on the outskirt of Akure, the state capital while on holidays from her Canada base where she is a student.
Perhaps the most pathetic of these series of unsolved and unpalatable incidents was the murder and subsequent burning of the wife of the ex-monarch of Ugbo Town in the Ilaje Local Government area of the state and three others. The four had died in mysterious fire outbreak that gutted their residence in Oba Ile Estate, Akure on February 12, 2011.
There was massive protest and wailing in early March 2011 at Ode Ugbo, A riverside community in Ilaje when the bodies of the wife of the former Olugbo of Ugboland Mr. Adebanjo Mafimisebi, Olori Morenike Mafimisebi, her grandchild and two other relatives were committed to mother earth.
Youths, women and aged people had converged on the town to register their protests over the tragic accident and berated the government and security over incessant insecurity in the state.
A grieving Adebanjo Mafimisebi, who called on the Inspector General of Place and the Director of State Security Service to unravel the mystery behind the murders, had disclosed that the footsteps of the killers were found on the walls of the compound and that they were murdered before they were later set on fire.
But up till now nothing has been heard about the security agents' efforts towards solving these endless gruesome murders and kidnap cases.