Kidnapped Ondo Man Escapes Forest After 72 Hours of Family Agony

(Ondo Man. Photo by Sahara Reporters)

Adeoye Fawehinmi from the Fawehinmi family in Ondo town, Ondo State, who was kidn@pped during a violent att@ck on the family farmland, has been found in a forest in neighbouring Osun State.

He reportedly went through severe torture and spent nearly two days in the forests before he was found.

He turned up in the early hours of Monday around Ifetedo in Osun State after finding his way out of the forest and asking residents for help.

They helped him reach his family.

The news brought relief to the family, who had spent an agonising 72 hours searching for him after suspected armed hoodlums att@cked their farmland in Ondo.

In an account released on Monday, the family lawyer, Akinbinu Olufemi, described the emotional reunion and gave details of how Adeoye said he was kidn@pped, tortured and later escaped.

The lawyer thanked members of the public who prayed for the family and backed the search for the missing man.

According to the account, the ordeal ended when Pastor Olanrewaju Fawehinmi got a call at about 1am saying Adeoye had been found alive.

The lawyer said efforts to get armed police escorts failed because the location the callers gave was across the state boundary in Osun.

With no police to accompany them, the pastor and one other person set out for the place anyway.

When they got there, they met local hunters who had helped Adeoye and were waiting with him.

The lawyer said the reunion was full of joy and that even the hunters shed tears of happiness for the family.

The hunters reportedly insisted that the family go to a police station in Osun before leaving with Adeoye.

After hearing about his injuries and his urgent need for medical care, officers at the station reportedly advised them to take him to a hospital.

The family then stopped at a police station in Ondo before taking him to a hospital, where treatment began at once.

The lawyer said a Divisional Crime Officer visited the hospital on Monday morning to take Adeoye statement, and he told the officer how it all happened.

Adeoye reportedly told the police that he and other family members were on their farmland when word reached them that armed hoodlums had invaded Agota, a nearby farming settlement.

He alleged that the att@ckers numbered about 50 and carried guns, axes, cutlasses and daggers, and that they unleashed violence on residents.

He named a former labourer of the family, Taju Oguntoye, as the alleged leader of the att@ckers, along with other people he accused of joining the invasion.

He said the gunmen then stormed Ogbomoso Camp, where he and his brother Femi Fawehinmi were trying to understand what was going on.

Both men allegedly tried to run but were overpowered.

Adeoye said the att@ckers fell on them and beat them badly before kidn@pping him on a motorcycle.

He said his captors first took him to a junction along the Ondo-Ife Road, where he asked for drinking water because he was badly dehydrated.

After he drank, they reportedly pointed him towards a path and warned him not to go near the police.

Adeoye said he first thought he was free and planned to run through the bush towards Pele so he could reach Fagun Police Station.

His hopes were crushed when another motorcycle carrying suspected gang members stopped him.

According to him, one of the att@ckers showed a pistol and a dagger and forced him onto the motorcycle.

The men then drove him along Epe Road while beating him again and again.

Adeoye alleged that one of them hit him with a flat object, leaving him dizzy and barely conscious.

He further alleged that his captors accused him of having an affair with their leader girlfriend and demanded that he admit responsibility for her pregnancy.

He denied it and told them he was married, but they allegedly kept beating him.

He said the beating got so severe that he passed out and could not remember what happened next.

He reportedly woke up in an unfamiliar forest, badly hurt, confused and unable to tell if he was dead or alive.

He then heard heavy vehicles passing far away and started crawling towards the sound.

After reaching a tarred road, he kept walking until he saw lights and signs of people.

The lawyer said Adeoye looked so frightening that the first people he met thought he was mentally unstable and tried to run away.

Adeoye asked them for the time and was told it was already past 1am on Monday.

Still struggling to understand his situation, he asked where he was and learnt that he had wandered into Ifetedo in Osun State.

He begged them to let him call his family.

According to the lawyer, one resident agreed to dial the number but at first refused to hand over the phone.

Adeoye finally managed to reach his family, which ended their desperate search.

The lawyer said the family is thankful that Adeoye survived and got medical care after his rescue.

The latest development follows an earlier report of an att@ck on the Fawehinmi family farms at Aboba and Ogbomoso camps, where armed men allegedly beat several residents, badly injured Femi Fawehinmi and kidn@pped Adeoye.