THERE was panic among commuters on the Lagos-Ibadan highway on Wednesday, after the news of the kidnap, on Tuesday, of a son of the Chief Medical Director of Lafia Hospital, Ibadan and two members of the staff of the hospital at Ajebo axis of the highway filtered through.
Earlier, a message circulated on a social media platform, Whatsapp, purportedly shared by a group and had gone viral, read: “Good morning house. These kidnappers are now on Lagos-Ibadan axis. I woke up this morning to receive the following message from my friend, Dr Sule, the owner of Lafia Hospital, Apata, Ibadan, which read: ‘Please pray for me. My first son and two members of my staff have been kidnapped by Fulani herdsmen on their way back from Lagos at Ajebo axis.’ I need your prayers please.”
The victims, Mr Kayode Sule, the Human Resource Manager and first son of the CMD, Dr Oladipo Sule; Mr Dele Adigun and Mrs Opeyemi Abifarin, the Head of Laboratory and Maintenance Officer respectively, were reportedly kidnapped on Tuesday while returning to Ibadan from a trip to Lagos where they procured hospital drugs and equipment.
However, two of the five-man team from the hospital, the driver of the Sienna bus and a laboratory technician, simply identified as Chika, escaped from the kidnappers.
Nigerian Tribune gathered that two people in another vehicle received gunshot wounds, as they were hit by stray bullets while running from the kidnappers.
The duo were said to be receiving treatment at an undisclosed hospital as of the time of filing this report.
The two vehicles belonging to the hospital and the second one occupied by other passengers were said to have been recovered and taken to Ogunmakin and Ogere police stations.
One of the staff members of the hospital was reported to have said that most of the kidnappers, numbering 15, spoke Hausa, but that one conversed in English.
The escaped victim, who contacted Dr Sule, was also said to have rushed to a nearby police station to report the incident.
In an interview with the Nigerian Tribune, the Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Oluwaseun Aluko, confirmed the development, adding that the family and the hospital had yet to confirm if the case was that of kidnap or robbery.
According to him, “It was Chika who got in contact with the chairman, Dr Sule,” adding that: “nobody knows if the case is an armed robbery case of kidnap, but what I heard from a member of the team was that they were waylaid on the highway on their way back from Lagos.
“Maybe it was robbery or any other thing, nobody can decode at the moment, but three staff members were abducted.
“As I am talking to you, nobody, either from the family or the hospital, had been contacted.
“Kayode’s mother, who also doubles as a hospital administrator, has tried that line but no success yet. As of now, we have been having a series of prayer sessions at the hospital to ensure their release.”
When the Nigerian Tribune visited the hospital on Wednesday afternoon, hospital workers were going on with their normal duties, but most of them wore mournful expressions and were discussing the issue.
One of the senior doctors, a septuagenarian who was initially billed to speak with the Nigerian Tribune, reportedly turned down the duty, citing lack of emotional composure to speak with the press.
Meanwhile, the Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Dr Sule, in reports, said the vehicle belonging to his hospital had been recovered by the policemen at the Ogunmakin police station.
Dr Sule was reported to have said: “I’m presently at Ogunmakin police station as I talk to you. I am distressed and seriously devastated. My son and two others went to Lagos to buy drugs for the hospital and were on the way back from the trip when they were ambushed and kidnapped.
“The driver said one of the kidnappers communicated in English and others were speaking in Hausa or Fulani language. They have yet to talk to us, to know what their real identities and intentions.”
Confirming the attack on the highway on Tuesday, an eyewitness, Mr Dele Fajemiyo, said the gunmen numbered about 15 and operated at about 7.10 p.m.
While speaking with the Nigerian Tribune, he narrated that he was travelling in company with police orderly and his driver from Lagos to Ibadan when the incident happened around Ajebo area of Ogun State.
He said there was a loud sound and they (occupants) wondered what could have happened to the vehicle.
He said the vehicle had to be stopped to ascertain where the sound came from but was shocked when some gunmen came out from the bush and started shooting on both sides of the highway.
He said the police orderly in his company was hit by a bullet.
When contacted, the state Police Public Relations Officer, Abimbola Oyeyemi, confirmed the story, saying that police operatives had taken charge of the case by combing the bush surrounding the scene of the incident, in search of the victims.
The PPRO said the state Commissioner of Police, Bashir Makama, had deployed security operatives, including Anti-Kidnapping Squad, Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), mobile policemen and others, led by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in charge of operations, to the scene, “with the mandate to rescue the victims unhurt and bring the kidnappers to book.”