Police evade questions as herdsmen kidnap 4, rape lady in Ekiti

On Tuesday, yet-to-be-identified gunmen suspected to be Fulani herdsmen invaded a hotel in Ayetoro Ekiti in the Ido/Osi Local Government Area of Ekiti State and kidnapped four persons.

Major sources in the community said the gunmen, numbering about 30, came on motorcycles and accessed the community through the Ewu-Ayetoro Road, inflicted machete injuries on the guard of the hotel and allegedly raped a lady.

One of the sources said, “About 30 men, who were armed to the teeth, came on motorcycles, invaded the hotel around 9.30pm and started shooting indiscriminately. In the process, they inflicted injuries on a worker of the hotel.

“The gunmen took away the injured worker alongside three other persons. They also raped a lady before they left. The guard at the hotel, who also received machete cuts, is receiving treatment in a hospital.”

The Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Sunday Abutu, promised to get back to our correspondent when contacted on the incident, but he had yet to do so as of the time of filing this report.

But the Commander, Amotekun Corps in the state, Brig. Gen. Joe Komolafe (retd), said the attack was carried out by unknown men and that one of the security guards at the hotel was wounded, while a lady was raped.

Komolafe said, “When we got a distress call around 9.30pm last night, we drafted our men to the hotel, but before getting there, the attackers had left. The information we got was that a lady was raped and the security guard was injured.

“But I do not know whether there was any abduction or not. I will brief you when I get more information.”

In recent times, the rate of abduction in Ekiti state has become largely prevalent.