Ogun: Amosun intervenes as kidnappers of Director, daughter contact family

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NIGERIA: AT last, the kidnappers of the Director of Information, Odogbolu Local Government, Ogun State, Mrs. Nofisat Bola Oshin, and her 15-year-old daughter, Afolabi, have contacted the family.

The development came at the time the Ogun State Governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, waded into the abduction of the wife and daughter of a one-time Deputy Speaker of the state House of Assembly, Dr. Tokunbo Oshin.
The former Deputy Speaker, who disclosed Amosun’s involvement, said that the kidnappers have called to inform him that the Director and her daughter are in their custody.

Oshin told GatewayMail that the abductors said the victims were safe and in good health.

According to him, the abductors, who allowed the mother and daughter to speak briefly with the family, were yet to demand for any ransom.

The ex-lawmaker said on Tuesday when some members of the Ogun State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) led by the acting Secretary, Mr. Anthony Gandonu, former Zonal Secretary, Dimeji Kayode-Adedeji, and the State Chairman, Local Government Information Chapter, Mr. Seun Abati, visited him.
Oshin, who praised Amosun on his involvement, said that he had contacted the Department of State Services and other security agencies, in a bid to rescue his wife and daughter.
“The incident happened last Thursday,” he said, while further narrating: “My wife and daughter were in the car and they were almost entering the premises when the abductors blocked their car with their own car.”
“Those who saw them said they transferred my wife and daughter into their own car and drove off, while one of them drove my wife’s car,” he disclosed while further saying that the kidnappers afterwards abandoned his wife’s car along Idowa-Itokin Road.

Oshin explained that shortly after the kidnappers struck the teams of the Oodua People’s Congress and Vigilante Service attempted to rescue his wife and daughter, thinking that the abductors would be trapped in the traffic but the men had left.
According to him, he spoke with the Director and Afolabi, saying that though “they are still alive, they sound rather distressed.”
While pleading with the kidnappers to release his wife and daughter to rejoin him and the rest of the family, the distraught husband pleaded with Nigerians to join in prayers for their release
“The day I will see the two of them will be my happiest day, and I believe that they will come back to this house alive,” Oshin said.
Gandonu had said that the media had given necessary publicity to the incident and expressed optimism on the efforts being made by the security agencies in the state to rescue the victims.

Gandonu also expressed confidence that the victims would soon be rescued alive.

It would be recalled that Nofisat and Afolabi were Thursday night abducted around 8pm in Ijebu-Ode in Ogun State.

The Nigeria Union Journalists (NUJ) raised the alarm in a statement last Friday that the Director, who was accompanied by her daughter at the time, was driving along Akobi Street in Ijebu-Ode when the suspected kidnappers accosted them at gunpoint.

GatewayMail learnt that they were taken away in the car, which was later abandoned.

According to the statement signed by the Acting Chairman of the Ogun NUJ, Mr. Soji Amosu, since the abduction, the whereabouts of the Director, who is a member of the NUJ, and her daughter, remain unknown.

“The Director of Information in Odogbolu Local Government Mrs. Nosifat Oshin and her 15 year old daughter Miss Afolabi were yesterday (Thursday) night kidnapped by unknown gunmen along Akobi Street in Ijebu-Ode,Ogun State,” the union said‎.

The union added: “Mrs. Oshin who is a member of the Ogun State Council of the ‎Nigeria Union of Journalists was allegedly kidnapped around 8pm.

“Their whereabouts is unknown since yesterday (Thursday) while her car has been abandoned at Okun-Owa in Odogbolu local government of the state.”

The NUJ, which described the abduction as barbaric, enjoined security agencies and the state government to do all as soon as possible to arrest the kidnappers and ensure the release of the director and her daughter.

The union, however, said that it had reported the matter to the police while the family members, too, have been notified.

It would be recalled that only recently, the former Minister of State for Education, Senator Iyabode Anisulowo, was kidnapped in Igbogila area in Ogun State by unknown gunmen.

The police eventually freed Anisulowo seven days after, on the day after a N5 million ransom was offered to anyone who could provide information that would lead to her abductors.