Gunmen release OAU professor

A SENIOR lecturer at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile-Ife, Prof. Olayinka Adegbehingbe, who was abducted on Sunday night has been released.

The professor and his wife, Bernice, were abducted on the Ibadan-Ife Road, Osun State.

They were returning from Lagos to Ile-Ife when they were stopped by unknown gunmen at Asejire, a community on the highway.

The Osun State Police Command confirmed the abduction, but said the don’s wife was released by the abductors.

The police also denied reports of bandits’ attacks on travellers on the Ife-Ilesa road on Sunday evening.

A senior officer at the state police command, who preferred anonymity, said the kidnap of the OAU lecturer was mistaken for the alleged bandits’ attacks.

The source said Mrs. Adegbehingbe was released before her husband was whisked away by the gunmen.

Mrs. Adegbehingbe is the Dean, Faculty of Clinical Sciences.

A story went viral on the social media on Sunday that some herdsmen alighted from a truck, shot into the air and dispossessed travellers of their valuables ran into the bush.

Mrs. Adegbehingbe was said to have slumped as her husband was being taken away.

She is said to be receiving treatment for shock at an undisclosed hospital. He younger brother, Kola Olabojede, pleaded with reporters and sympathisers to allow her to rest, saying she was yet to recover from the shock. The gunmen have not established contact with Adegbehingbe.

Academic activities at the victim’s department came to a halt as his colleagues suspended classes when the news of his abduction was broken.

Police spokesperson Mrs. Folasade Odoro said efforts to free Adegbehingbe had begun.

Mrs. Odoro, who said the Commissioner of Police Mrs. Abiodun Ige, visited the scene of the kidnap on Sunday night, assured all that the victim will soon regain freedom.

In a statement, the OAU spokesperson, Abiodun Olanrewaju, who praised the police for responding quickly to the incident, however, urged them to ensure the lecturer’s freedom.

Also yesterday in Jos, gunmen broke into Plateau State Polytechnic, abducting a girl.

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The attackers raided the staff quarters at Heipang in Barki Ladi Local Government Area.

Tyopev Terna, spokesman of the State Police Command, confirmed the attack.

The abducted girl, 24, is said to be the younger sister of Ezekiel Rangs, an Assistant Deputy Registrar of the institution.

The attack was the second on the institution in two months.

In February, suspected gunmen abducted Kim, the 12-year-old son of Andrew Dido, the chaplain of the polytechnic.

“We had a report of the case of kidnap. We have recorded the case. A 24-year-old girl was kidnapped and our men have been mobilised to follow the trail of the kidnappers,” Terna said.

He, however, declined to confirm if the girl kidnapped is Rangs’ sister.

“The most important thing is that a child has been kidnapped. I think all human beings are equal,” the police spokesman said.