Hundreds of youths in the Isanlu-Isin, Oke-Onigbin, and Edidi communities in Kwara South, on Saturday, blocked the Ilorin-Omu-Aran-Kabba Highway to protest the incessant kidnappings in their communities.
The youths carrying placards with different inscriptions blocked the highway with bonfires as early as 8:00 a.m., demanding government intervention to address insecurity in their communities.
Some of the inscriptions on the placards read, ‘Enough is Enough’, ‘Stop Kidnapping our People’, ‘We Demand Government Urgent Intervention’, ‘Our people are dying in the hands of kidnappers’, and ‘We are tired of paying ransom without results’.
The protest resulted in a gridlock on both sides of the highway for hours.
The Odee of Isanlu Isin, Michael Ayanda, who spoke on behalf of the protesters, said the incessant kidnappings had prevented them from going to their farms and embarking on commercial activities.
The protesters also decried the non-responsive attitude of security agencies and the government towards their plight, despite several appeals made through letters and visits to police formations and the government in Ilorin, the state capital.
Ayanda said the protest was to draw the attention of the security agencies and the authorities to their plight.
He alleged that despite the payment of ransoms running into millions of naira, many of the kidnapped victims were yet to regain their freedom.
Ayanda claimed that the whereabouts of at least seven members of the community’s vigilante members, who volunteered to comb the forest to effect the release of their people, were still unknown.
‘We have paid N30 million for two people kidnapped earlier, but they have yet to release them; they are asking for another money.
‘Today, we have paid another N10 million for the release of seven kidnapped community members, but they have only released one person’, he said.
The chairman of Irepodun Local Government Area, Azeez Yakubu, who addressed the protesters at Eleyin Village near Omu-Aran, appealed for calm and promised to pass their grievances on to the authorities.
Also, Ismaila Ahmed, the Serikin Fulani of Eleyin village in Isin Local Government Area, said, ‘Our people have become targets of the kidnappers in recent times. No fewer than eleven of our people are yet to regain their freedom, and we have paid N20 million to date’.
Efforts to reach the Kwara Commissioner of Police, Adekunle Ojo, proved futile as he did not pick up calls.
The chief press secretary to the governor, Rafiu Ajakaiye, pleaded with the youths to exercise patience as the state government was making efforts to curb insecurity.
