By RhemDy News
Alhaji Teslim Ajibola, a herbalist and hotelier in Akinmoorin, Afijio Local Government Area of Oyo State has disclosed how kidnappers demanded N100million for the release of his abducted two children.
Alhaji Ajibola said he was at his hotel in Akinmoorin on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, when his wife called that gunmen had kidnapped two of his children - a 37-year-old Akeem Abiodun Ajibola, and his 14-year-old sister, Nifemi.
The two siblings regained their freedom from the kidnappers on Tuesday June 30, 2026.
Narrating his ordeals in an interview with RhemDy News on Wednesday, Ajibola lamented that the gunmen dragged his underage daughter on the ground for about one kilometre as she was trying to resist being kidnapped, while the brother was also badly brutalised by four of the assailants.
According to the father, the victims were immediately taken to a vast hostel belonging to Alhaji Kazeem Adesina, a businessman, at Jobele, where they were briskly questioned before moving them the same day to Oke Ajadi, a forest behind the State Hospital, Fiditi where they were held hostage until their release on Tuesday evening.
Speaking on the criminal elements, he added that the freed victims told him that the abductors comprised one Hausa man and four (4) Fulanis, and that they could identify local herders of Fulani extraction among those at the forest where they were held.
Ajibola explained that the hoodlums called him on Wednesday, June 24, demanding for a ransom of N20million but to his surprise, the ransom was increased to N100million when they called again.
However, the amount was eventually reduced to N25million after three days of negotiation. "I told them I could only raise N5million. They later settled for the amount and we agreed to pay the ransom yesterday (June 30). They asked me to wait until 4pm but I travelled to Ibadan and could not make it immediately before the release of my children.
"The children said they were freed around 6pm but they got home around 8pm. I was on my way from Ibadan when I received an anonymous call but I didn't answer. I didn't know they were the one, he would have answered it.
"The kidnappers released them without ransom payment. I didn't pay anything and they were not rescued by the police. I have informed the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) about their release and he has asked me to come to the station," the father said.
He commended the men of the Jobele Police Division, particularly the DPO, personnel of the Department of State Services (DSS), officers of Amotekun Security Network, local hunters and concerned neighbours and friends who joined him to work tirelessly for the rescue of the victims.
"They all combed the bushes and nearby forest till around 3am on the day of the abduction. Although the effort was fruitless but they indeed put in their best," he said.
A neighbour who craved anonymity lamented that Oke Ajadi has become a notorious hideout used by criminals to harbour kidnap victims and carrying out other nefarious activities.
He called on the Nigeria Police Force and other security agencies to free the forest of criminal elements, while appealing to security operatives to apprehend the identified collaborators among the herders in the community.
"It is evident that without the informants mentioned among the Fulani herders, the kidnappers would not have carried out their criminal act," he said.
Ajibola, who was full of gratitude for his freed children, said he was taking them to the hospital for treatment.
However, he urged members of the public to be vigilant, and charged security agents to profile pastoralists in communities to isolate the criminal elements among them to prevent such incident.
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