By Banji Ayoola
Wife of Chief Olugbenga Ale, the Chief of Staff to Ondo State Governor, Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, has been kidnapped.
Mrs Ale was abducted at Owena in Idanre council of the state on Thursday night by the bandits who had laid a siege on the highway and taken her into the forest.
Already, the governor is said to be aware of the incident and has reportedly visited the house of the Chief of Staff at Alagbaka with plans to ensure the woman’s safe release.
She was abducted barely 24 hours after a first class traditional ruler, the Olufon of lfon, in Ifon Local Government Area of the state, Oba Isreal Adewusi, was killed by gunmen.
The woman was said to be returning from Lagos to Akure when she was abducted.
Police spokesman in the state, Leo lkoro, confirmed the incident saying: “she was abducted at Owena and the commissioner of police has instructed police officers in the division to start combing the forest.”
The deceased royal father was murdered on Thursday at Elegbeke in Ose council area of the state.
He was said to be returning to his domain after attending the monthly Council of Chiefs meeting in Akure, the state capital.
He was rushed to the Federal Medical Centre in Owo but died before he could be attended to by medical personnel.
Police commissioner, Bolaji Salami said Divisional Police Officers in the Northern senatorial districts have been mandated to fish out the killer of the monarch.
It was learnt that the news got to the governor on his way from Ifon where he had led some members of his cabinet to condole with the people of Ifon, over the murder of their royal father
A disturbed Akeredolu described last Thursday as a sad day in Ondo, saying the killing of the monarch around Elegbeka on Owo-Ifon road was unfortunate.
“This is a heinous crime, an incident that has, again, confirmed that we are indeed, in a serious security crisis beyond the ordinary,” he noted.
The Commissioner for Information and Orientation, Mr. Donald Ojogo, in a statement, disclosed that the governor had already visited the affected area, in company with Ale, whose wife was kidnapped later that night.
He stated that security agencies, especially the Police, had already been directed to fish out perpetrators, adding: “On our part as a government, we shall give whatever it takes to unravel this. These criminals who have brought this sad day on our state shall not go unpunished.”
