Suspected bandits have kidnapped the first wife of the Baale of Dabu, a community in Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State. In another incident, kidnappers are demanding ₦20 million ransom for the release of another woman abducted from a nearby community. The latest victim, identified as Iya Ayoka, was reportedly abducted in Dabu on Friday night.
The Kwara South Development Forum (KSDF) called on the federal and state governments to urgently secure the release of Ayoka and other victims in captivity. “We are not ready to pay a dime. The government needs to bring her back to us,” the group said.
The Forum also raised concerns over the continued captivity of Fasilat Babatunde, a 23-year-old woman abducted from the Wande community on 15 July. Her father was reportedly shot during the attack while attempting to resist the abductors. The attackers took the woman away and have demanded ₦20 million to free her. The abductors had access to her TikTok account and were using it to publish posts and make calls while communicating with her family.
KSDF said the security situation had forced some residents to abandon their homes, while several markets and villages had been shut down. “We have used all our money to pay ransom, so we are tired,” the group said. It said the Ifelodun Local Government authorities had not responded adequately to repeated complaints about insecurity.
The abduction of a monarch’s wife is a significant escalation of insecurity in Kwara South. The use of a victim’s TikTok account to communicate with her family adds a grotesque modern twist to an age-old crime. The government’s failure to respond to the security crisis has left communities to fend for themselves. The residents are tired of paying ransom. They want the government to act.
This echoes the 2022 kidnappings in Kwara, which also saw communities abandoned and residents fleeing. The mechanism then was different, but the result was the same: a government struggling to protect its citizens.
The winners: none. The losers: the families of the victims, who are living in fear; and the Nigerian state, which has failed to protect its citizens.
Bottom Line: A monarch’s wife has been abducted. Another woman has been in captivity for over a month. The government is not acting. The question is whether it will.