Bandits have demanded a ₦500 million ransom for the release of five road construction workers abducted at a government project site in Kwara State, as a separate kidnapping in Osun State enters its third week with captors insisting on ₦200 million.
The incidents underscore Nigeria’s worsening kidnapping crisis, where ransom demands are rising even as families say they have been left to fend for themselves.
The five construction workers were abducted on December 15, 2025, at a Kwara State Government road project along the Sabaja–Owa-Onire Road in Isin Local Government Area. According to relatives, gunmen stormed the site around 11:40 a.m., seizing Ademola Afolabi, Abdullahi Lade, Emmanuel Okuwadare Kayode, Fatai Akin, and their driver, Yusuf.
Speaking to journalists in Ilorin on Monday, family spokesperson Dare Boyinbogun accused the state government of neglect, saying the kidnappers had contacted them with what he described as an “impossible” ransom demand.
“They demanded ₦500 million. Since that day, our lives have been suspended between hope and despair,” Boyinbogun said. “These are innocent workers contributing to the development of Kwara State. They went to work believing they would return home safely.”
While acknowledging the efforts of security agencies, he warned that time was running out.
“Every passing hour deepens the trauma—especially for the wives, children and elderly parents who depend entirely on these men,” he said, adding that some families were already facing hunger and severe psychological distress.
One of the wives, Idayat Lade, broke down in tears while appealing for her husband’s release, revealing that she had lost a baby due to the emotional trauma caused by the abduction.
“We just want our husbands back alive,” she said.
The families appealed to the Kwara State Government to establish direct communication with them, provide welfare and counselling support, and strengthen security along construction corridors and rural roads.
Meanwhile, a separate kidnapping case in Osun State has followed a similar pattern of high ransom demands and prolonged captivity.
Emmanuel Owolabi, a retired Customs officer, was abducted near his home in Ora, along the Osun–Kwara boundary, nearly two weeks ago. His captors are demanding ₦200 million, a sum his family says it cannot raise.
Owolabi’s wife, Titilayo, told reporters that the gunmen struck shortly before 7 p.m., firing sporadic shots before dragging her husband away on a motorcycle.
“They were young boys,” she said. “I pleaded with one of them in Hausa. Instead, he beat me and demanded money. Then I heard the sound of the motorcycle taking my husband into the bush.”
During the attack, the gunmen also reportedly killed a village chief identified only as Dennis, who was returning from his farm.
A source close to the family said the abductors used Owolabi’s phone to contact relatives and have allowed him to speak briefly with family members, but negotiations remain stalled.
“They are insisting on ₦200 million. We offered an amount, but they rejected it,” the source said. “He is alive, but still with them.”
The Osun State Police Command confirmed that search-and-rescue operations are ongoing but complained of limited cooperation from the victim’s family.
Police spokesperson Abiodun Ojelabi said authorities were not informed when the kidnappers first made contact. “We are working with the little information available, and the anti-kidnapping squad is on the case,” he said.
In Kwara, the security situation has drawn further attention after a viral video showed suspected hoodlums attacking women protesters near the under-construction Government House in Ilorin.
Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq condemned the assault, ordering police to identify and prosecute those responsible.
“Peaceful protest is a democratic right,” the governor said through his spokesman, Rafiu Ajakaye, adding that the state was intensifying security measures, including the deployment of armed forest guards to flush out kidnappers from forest zones.
For the families of the abducted workers and Owolabi, however, official assurances offer little comfort as ransom demands soar and captivity drags on.
