Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen, at the weekend killed a man in Ekiti State and abducted his wife and daughter.
The abductors on Saturday demanded for N50 million ransom to free the victims.
The victims were said to have been in Ewu-Ekiti in Ilejemeje Local Government Area of Ekiti since Thursday for the burial of one Mrs Florence Tuyole Erinle, mother of Mr Olusegun Erinle, who is their family friend.
Briefing newsmen on the incident in Ado-Ekiti on Saturday, Erinle, who was a member of the Ekiti House of Assembly from 2011 to 2015, confirmed the demand for ransom by the abductors.
Erinle said that the victims are his family friends.
According to him, the victims were returning to their hotel room in Ayetoro-Ekiti, in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of the state, when the suspected kidnappers attacked them, killing one and abducting two others.
Erinle said a motorcyclist, who was said to have been monitoring their movement wherever they went since they came, had been apprehended and handed over to the Police.
He said that the cyclist was handed over to the Police to explain his suspicious role of acting as informant to the kidnappers since their arrival in the town.
ASP. Sunday Abutu, the Police Public Relations Officer, Ekiti Command, however, denied knowledge of any ransom being demanded, but confirmed the arrest of the suspected informant.
Abutu said the suspect was arrested on the strength of information available to the command, adding that the long arm of the law would soon catch up with the suspected criminals wherever they might be hiding.
The deceased, whose identities are yet to be ascertained, was said to be travelling in the company of his wife and daughter in a Lexus 330 Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV) between Ewu-Ayetoro-Ekiti road in Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State, when the gunmen rained bullets on his vehicle.
A source said: “The man and the family were returning to their base when they were waylaid. The victim was shot in the head and chest.
“They didn’t take the vehicle , they only left the corpse of the man. The other people in the vehicle were taken away.
“There was pool of blood inside the jeep and this made people to suspect that those who did the work were kidnappers.”
Ekiti State Police Spokesman, Sunday Abutu, had earlier confirmed the incident. He noted that the sympathizers could not do much to save the victim, as he died on the spot.
“The police have mobilised to the spot and combing the surrounding forests with other agencies like the Amotekun Corps, Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, local hunters and vigilance group.”
