A prime suspect in the killing of an All Progressives Congress ward chairman in Ondo State has been arrested by the Amotekun Corps.
The departed Mr Nelson Adepoyigi, was killed by his abductors following his kidnap by some armed men at the entrance of his farm along the Ifon-Owo Road, in Ifon, the headquarters of Ose Local Government Area of the state last month.
Announcing the development, the Amotekun State Commander, Akogun Adetunji Adeleye, told reporters in Akure Monday that the Corps also arrested at least 32 other suspected criminals.
Adepoyigi was abducted along with two other victims.
Adeleye, who paraded the suspects at the corps command headquarters in Akure, the state capital, said they were arrested at different locations across the 18 Local Government Areas of the state.
He alleged that the suspects committed crimes such as kidnapping, rape, robbery, and stealing among others.
According to him, the alleged prime suspected killer of the APC chieftain had confessed to the killing of the politician.
His words, “Today, we are parading 32 suspects. These 32 suspects were arrested across the 18 Local Government Areas of Ondo State for an infringement of the existing laws.
“I also want to place on record that the task force put in place to bring sanity to the restive in Akure North is still in force. The Amotekun Rangers are domiciled with officers and men from all security agencies in and out of the area.
“So, as we talk, in the last 14 days, there have been no incidents of attack on farmers and residents of Ago-Oyinbo, Ago-dada and the Power line area where we usually have attacks.
“Again, one of the prime suspects in the killing of a ward chairman in Ose (LGA ) has been arrested. He confessed and took us back into the forest where we retrieved some of the items they took from their victims’ families.
“What we are saying in effect is that in the last two weeks in Ondo State, we have been able to ensure that there is no ransom paid for kidnapping, which remains the position of the good people and government of Ondo State.”
Giving a breakdown of the number of the suspects, the Amotekun Commander said, “For those breaking laws and order, we arrested 20 suspects, on pending enforcement, no suspect was arrested in the last two weeks. Land and chieftaincy matter, no suspect was arrested. On the labour union, no suspect was arrested.
“On anti-grazing, only one suspect and he will be facing the law as stated in the anti-open grazing law. On human trafficking, none. On kidnapping, we have 10 suspects and a majority of them, we have the victims, identifying them. On robbery, we have two. These two are here today with the victims and this one happened on the Benin Expressway. They had been arrested and investigation continues on them. On rape, we have only one suspect”.
The suspects, aged between 18 and 45 years are being investigated as suspected kidnappers.
They were arrested in Ute-Owo Forest, Jugbere Forest, and Ipele in Owo.
