Gunmen Abduct OAU Lecturer, Kills Driver Demands N70m Ransom

Some gunmen on Friday abducted a lecturer at the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile Ife, Dr. Femi Omisore, who was on his way to attend a funeral at Oye Ekiti in Ekiti State.

Our correspondent gathered on Sunday that Omisore, a lecturer at the Department of Environmental Design Management of the OAU was abducted in Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State.

His captors, who were said to be armed with guns, were said to have trailed him for a while.

The driver was said to have noticed them and tried to evade the gang, but the abductors managed to waylay Omisore’s vehicle.

On catching up with him, the hoodlums were said to have killed the driver out of anger and took Omisore to an unknown place.

The gunmen, it was further gathered, fired several shots at the petrol tank of the lecturer’s car and ensured that the car caught fire before they left the scene.

The Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities, OAU chapter, Dr. Caleb Aborisade, confirmed the incident.

Aborisade said, “According to the information I gathered from his family, Dr. Femi Omisore was kidnapped on Friday evening. He was going for a funeral ceremony in Oye Ekiti.

“I learnt that a member of his department was burying his father in Oye Ekiti and he was travelling there when he was kidnapped.

“The kidnappers used his telephone to call his wife this morning (Sunday) and they demanded N70m ransom.

“We are not politicians; where do they expect us to get such amount?”

He appealed to Omsiore’s abductor to release the lecturer.

He said the family was not rich and could not afford to pay such a huge amount of money.

The abduction was also confirmed to our correspondent on the telephone by the Chairman of Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, Osun State Polytechnic, Iree chapter, Mr. Dotun Omisore.

The union leader is a nephew of the abducted lecturer.

The ASUP chairman expressed concern at the way lecturers and members of their families were becoming targets of abduction.

He called on the government and security agencies in the country to do more to ensure security of lives and property of every Nigerian, saying kidnapping was becoming too rampant.

Punch