Abandoned Ondo road turns haven of kidnappers, area for accidents

In February 2022, Ayo Adewale, now deceased, was on his way back from the farm in Imeri-Ose in Akoko-Edo Local Government Area of Ondo State when two gun-wielding men dragged him into the bush.

His wife, Christiana Adewale, was waiting to have her husband back home but her expectation was soon cut short as she received a call from the kidnappers who demanded a ransom of N2 million; the family could only raise N100,000

“When we couldn’t afford the ransom, he was butchered,” Mrs Adewale recounted with tears. “That was how I lost my husband and became a single mother.”

Earlier in February, Austin Alonge, another resident of Aiyegunle Akoko-Edo was on his way to his farm in Imeri-Ose to finish his cultivation and planting.

Mid-way to the farm, his bike veered off the good part on the road leaving him injured. At the hospital, where he spent three months, doctors say his knee cap got broken due to the accident.

Mr Alonge, while narrating his ordeal, said that it has been more than five years since the road became bad.

Mr Alonge said the road has caused a lot of accidents while lamenting the high rate of kidnapping and all sorts of evil deeds on that road.

He added that kidnapping occurs on the road mostly in the evening, around 5p.m to 7 p.m and other times of the day the road is deserted.

“We don’t even know the particular people that do the kidnapping but after the kidnapping, they demand a ransom amounting up to two million or five million and if we can’t afford it they succumb to butchering and killing the person.

“If the road is not abandoned, the high rate of kidnapping and accidents of villagers and farmers along the Imeri-Ose axis would not exist, as many villagers have left for a peaceful abode,” Mr Alonge said.

A smooth road would have solved part of the problem and there was a project to that effect.

The possibility

In 2020 N223,250,000 was budgeted for the construction of a 15km interstate road from Aiyegunle-Akoko Edo LGA Edo State to Imeri Ose LGA in Ondo State.

In 2013 the same road also had N100,000,000 budgeted. In total, N415,000,000 was released. The project is a Federal Government capital project as indicated in the signage. The project was under the supervision of the Federal Ministry of Works and Housing.

Although farmers were optimistic that the road construction would boost economic activities, all hopes have since dropped, following the high rate of kidnapping and accidents on the axis.

When this reporter visited in April, she found the road in a deplorable condition, nowhere near completion. Several portions of the road now have deep potholes, frustrating movement. The bad road has given kidnappers breeding space to carry out their obnoxious acts.

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Deborah Adeoti, 56, shared the story of how her son died in a fatal accident after smashing his head on a rocky terrain, she was badly injured during the same accident.

“It’s sad, telling the story that I lost my son along the imeri-Ose narrow road because of the bad condition of the road and due to insecurity.

“It all started when we were coming back from the farm in the evening on our bike and he needed to drive speedily for us to avoid kidnapping or any assault from the kidnappers as we were a bit late, then the bike front tyre hit a pit and made us somersault from the bike and my son’s head landed on the stone and blood gushed out freely.

“At first I found it hard to stand up too because I also sustained injuries, but I managed to as I struggled to save my child’s life by rushing him to a local hospital at Aiyegunle Akoko-Edo but we were referred to Federal Medical center in Owo (FMC).” narrated Mrs Adeoti.

Mrs Adeoti, after narrating how her son died on their way to the Federal Medical Centre in Owo, bemoaned how the government’s negligence put citizens’ lives at risk.

“Even if it’s an abandoned Federal government road, our lawmakers who are representing us both at the state and federal government level should have not abandoned us to this deadly road because it’s consuming lives and also makes it easier for kidnappers to carry out their activities,” she said.

When this reporter visited the community in April, 2023, she had an accident on her way to Aiyegunle Akoko-Edo from Imeri-Ose road and sustained an injury from a bike silencer.

This happened after the motorcycle embarked on a two hours journey from Oka-Akoko to Aiyegunle. On the way, the motorcycle’s front tire hit a rock, capsizing it and leaving the rider and his passenger injured.

Meanwhile, when UDEME contacted the Ministry of Works and Housing on mobile one Mr. Lawal Olawale who responded, asked for the questions to be sent in via mail. No response was received for mails also sent to the Federal Ministry of Finance.

Also, several online word checks and the use of a Google Advanced search revealed no related responses to this project title.

The FOI requests sent to the Ministry of Works and Housing since the past 29 working days before this story was filed received no responses.

The contractor details were not available on the project signpost and several searches to get their mails and phone number were abortive as the company doesn’t have a website nor social media handles of theirs.

Several searches on the Federal highway document on the list of ongoing projects by the federal ministry of works and housing revealed the contractor of this project to be Fame Highway Company and the consultant to be Selihin Consult Nig. Limited.

By Fatimah Idera

This report was produced under the Udeme project of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID).

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