Some gunmen have reportedly invaded a hotel in Ajaawa, the headquarters of Ogo Oluwa Local Government Area of Oyo State and abducted the hotelier, Mr Olukunle Oyedokun, his nursing wife, Juliana, the infant, five other close relatives including his other children and a guest at the hotel.
Our correspondent gathered that two other guests were able to escape from the gunmen in the incident that happened around 10.30pm on Saturday.
But a top police officer who spoke with our correspondent on condition of anonymity said although there was an incident at the hotel, the number of the victims could not be ascertained now.
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He said family members gave conflicting figures to the police. He said while some mentioned seven, some said it was just two persons that were abducted.
The gunmen were said to have started shooting to create fear in the minds of their victims immediately they invaded the hotel located at the back of CAC Primary School, Lagbedu Road, and subsequently whisked their targets away.
It was gathered that Oyedokun was preparing for a burial ceremony coming up this weekend and other family members had arrived in the town to start the preparations for the ceremony.
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The kidnappers were said to have already made calls to the family of the victims to demand N15m as ransom to free their captives.
Sources said the ransom had been reduced to N2.5m but the family members were said to still be running around to raise the money.
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The Police Public Relations Officer in Oyo State, Mr Adewale Osifeso, could not be reached by our correspondent and was yet to respond to the message sent as of the time of filing this report.
However, residents said the police, Amotekun Corps and hunters had started combing the bushes in search of the kidnappers and their victims.
The National President of Soludero Hunters, Nureni Ajijolaanobi, when contacted confirmed the incident to our correspondent.
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He said members of Soludero Hunters, policemen and others were making moves to rescue the victims.
Ajijolaanobi also called on Governor Seyi Makinde to make available vehicles and other logistics to members of the Joint Security Task Force he raised to make them effective
He said Soludero Hunters had been using their vehicles and personal money to carry out their operations since.
