Exactly one week after their kidnapping, Christ Apostolic Church members,
On Thursday night, Oke Igan, Akure, Ondo State, was released.
According to reports, the victims were freed after their families paid the kidnappers a ransom of N50 million.
The victims, who were traveling to Ifon on the Benin-Akure freeway last Friday, were kidnapped by armed gunmen who halted their vehicle at a dangerous section of the freeway in the Elegbeka neighborhood of the state’s Ose Local Government Area.
They (the victims) spent seven days in the bush after being dragged there by the shooters.
However, eight of the 19 churchgoers managed to escape their captors, and the other 11 were liberated after paying a N50 million ransom.
A family source claims that the victims were freed in the same Elegbeka neighborhood on Thursday night around midnight where they had been abducted the previous week.
According to the source, “They were released at Elegbeka area, same area they were picked up on Thursday night, after which they were taken to the Ipele Police Station, and from there, they were taken by the police to Akure today (Friday).”
The source confirmed that the ransom was paid, saying, “The guys (abductors) had been negotiating with the relatives of the victims for a few days, and they insisted that they would collect a N50m ransom on everyone of them.
Early this week, the family brought N30m to them; they collected it but didn’t release them. They insisted that payment must be made in full before releasing them.
Speaking, Pastor Benjamin Akande, Regional Superintendent of the CAC for the Odubanjo Region, thanked God for releasing the victims, noting that the majority of them appeared exhausted and weak.
He said that they were brought to the hospital for medical attention.
Abayomi Akinruntan, the state’s deputy speaker, was accompanied by the leadership of the Ondo State House of Assembly when she visited the church on Friday and described the situation as regrettable.