The Oyo State Government has raised concern over repeated kidnapping incidents involving people from the state, questioning whether the attacks are deliberately targeted.
The Commissioner for Information, Dotun Oyelade, expressed the concern in a statement issued on Monday in Ibadan while reacting to the reported abduction of 18 Oyo State students returning home from Sokoto State over the weekend.
Oyelade described the incident as the third unusual kidnapping involving the state in four months.
“Are we being targeted? Are we under organised siege? Are these uncommon decoys to distract us? Is this a political attack targeting scholarship and conviction?” he asked.
The commissioner recalled the May 15 abduction of students and teachers in Oriire Local Government Area, saying the victims endured 56 days in captivity under harrowing conditions.
Following the incident, Governor Seyi Makinde constituted a Judicial Panel of Inquiry on July 31 to investigate the circumstances surrounding the attack.
According to Oyelade, the panel, chaired by Justice (Prof.) Mojeed, submitted its report last week. He said its establishment had stirred curiosity at the time.
“Since the submission of the report, two serial kidnapping attacks have been foisted on Oyo State. Is this a coincidence? If it is, it is one too many,” he said.
The commissioner maintained that the people of Oyo State, as an integral part of Nigeria, had a right to pursue education and express their political convictions freely.
He said residents deserved to know who was seeking to undermine those freedoms.
The statement raised questions about the pattern of attacks but did not identify those responsible or provide evidence establishing a political motive.
