In a brazen evening attack, armed bandits abducted a retired Customs officer and fatally shot a village chief, plunging a border community into chaos and fear as residents scattered amid relentless gunfire.
The assailants struck without warning, snatching the victim in front of his home before escaping into nearby bushes, while the chief was gunned down as he returned from his farm during their getaway.
The incident occurred on Monday evening in Ora, a community on the Osun-Kwara boundary in Osun State.
The victim’s distraught wife, Titilayo, recounted the terrifying ordeal, describing how the bandits stormed their compound on Akisa Road shortly before 7 p.m.
“When I closed my shop around 6:30 p.m., my husband came around and asked me to go home. When I got home, I cooked and was about to serve my children their food when I heard a gunshot,” she said.
She continued: “I initially thought the shots were from hunters who sometimes come around, but the gunshots became sporadic. Later, I heard my husband’s voice outside our fence. I didn’t know he was being held by bandits.
“I went out to check what was happening. One of the gunmen jumped over the fence into our compound. Those I saw were young boys.
“I knelt down and spoke Hausa to him because they were speaking Hausa. Instead of responding, he started beating me. He asked me for money.”
Titilayo added that while the chaos unfolded with sporadic shooting, she soon heard the sound of a motorcycle carrying her husband away toward the bush.
“The two gunmen in our compound then jumped over the fence into the bush and fled. My husband is a retired Customs officer. People should help us bring him back home safely,” she pleaded.
Community sources revealed that as the bandits fled, they shot dead a village chief identified simply as Dennis.
When contacted on Tuesday, Osun State Police Command spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi confirmed the abduction and said additional forces had been deployed to comb the area.
“Immediately the incident happened yesterday, police operatives and other volunteers chased after the gunmen. We are working hard to rescue the victim,” Ojelabi said.
He clarified that the chief was killed in a location falling within Kwara State, adding, “One person was shot, but not within Osun. Where they killed him falls within Kwara State.”