Tension In Ondo Communities As 300-Level Undergraduate Allegedly Gets Kidnapped

Communities in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State are under tension as they await news regarding the disappearance of Gideon Akindoyo, a 300-level Computer Engineering student at Al-Hikmah University in Igbaja, Kwara State, under mysterious circumstances.

Gideon who travelled home was said to have gone to the farm with his motorcycle to harvest cassava but did not return home.

With the suspicion that he must have been kidnapped, his motorcycle was seen on the farm, while his whereabouts remained still unknown.

While calling on the authorities to find the missing student, the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, in a statement by its senate secretariat, issued by its leader, Henry Okunomo, linked the missing 30-year-old to the lingering communal crisis between Irele and Igbobini communities, with a plea to the leaders of the two communities to find the missing student dead or alive.

NANS in the statement disclosed that Gideon was last seen on Monday, June 11, 2024, when he headed to his parents’ farm at Lumeko village, located between Igbobini and Ode Irele communities in Ese-Odo Local Council and Irele Local Council.

The student group also appealed to the Ondo State governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to intervene and employ all necessary measures to resolve the lingering crisis between the two communities.

Meanwhile, the mother of the missing student, Mrs. Janet Akindoyo, stated that her son arrived in Irele on Sunday, June 10, went to the farm to harvest the following day, but did not return home.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, disclosed that operatives from the command had been deployed to search for the missing student.