Four farmers have been kidnapped at the Agric Settlement area in Iseyin, Oyo State by kidnappers dressed in army camouflage with sophisticated weapons, on Saturday afternoon.
About 10 farmers that escaped revealed that the four abducted farmhands were working at a big poultry farm situated within the settlement.
The farm settlement along Iseyin-Ipapo-Saki road has a collection of farmers that hired the land from the State Ministry of Agriculture for farming activities.
Late on Saturday night, a team of Amotekun men, Soldiers and policemen were combing the large expanse of land of the settlement towards Okeho, Itesiwaju local government axis, where the kidnappers were noticed to have headed with their victims.
When contacted on phone about the incident on Sunday Morning, the Chairman of the Farm Settlement Association Mr Adepoju, said the search team were still in hot pursuit of the kidnappers towards the Okeho forest.
He said he could not say much until the search party returned from the forest.
”It is very unfortunate that this is now happening in our area, the government asked us to farm and we are on the farm, the next thing is for kidnappers to snatch us like chickens.
”Those kidnappers came with sophisticated weapons that our Amotekun men do not have, I salute the bravery of our security men because when they were pursuing the men in army camouflage, we could hear the difference in the firepower of the kidnappers as different from that of our local vigilante and Amotekun men.”
The incident has however caused panic in the Iseyin community, as the identity of the four kidnapped farmhands was yet to be ascertained.
Some of those who spoke with journalists on Saturday evening about the sad incident lamented the rate at which kidnappers operate within the Oke-Ogun and Ibarapa area of Oyo State without any significant solution from the security agencies.
They called the attention of the federal and State government to the problem, as according to them, the spate of kidnappings might start to affect the economy of the areas, as farmers and businessmen might find it difficult to go to the farm or ply their trades due to fear of kidnappers
