Tension in Ondo communities over missing 300-level undergraduate

Communities in Irele Local Government Area of Ondo State are currently under tension following a 300-level Computer Engineering student of Al-Hikmah University, Igbaja, Kwara State, Gideon Akindoyo, who went missing under suspicious circumstances.

Gideon who travelled home was said to have gone to the farm with his motorcycle to harvest cassava but did not return home.

With the suspicion that he must have been kidnapped, his motorcycle was seen on the farm, while his whereabouts remained still unknown.

While calling on the authorities to find the missing student, the National Association of Nigerian Students, NANS, in a statement by its senate secretariat, issued by its leader, Henry Okunomo, linked the missing 30-year-old to the lingering communal crisis between Irele and Igbobini communities, with a plea to the leaders of the two communities to find the missing student dead or alive.

NANS in the statement disclosed that Gideon was last seen on Monday, June 11, 2024, when he headed to his parents’ farm at Lumeko village, located between Igbobini and Ode Irele communities in Ese-Odo Local Council and Irele Local Council.

The student group also appealed to the Ondo State governor, Lucky Aiyedatiwa, to intervene and employ all necessary measures to resolve the lingering crisis between the two communities.

Meanwhile, the mother of the missing student, Mrs. Janet Akindoyo, stated that her son arrived in Irele on Sunday, June 10, went to the farm to harvest the following day, but did not return home.

Confirming the development, the Police Public Relations Officer in the state, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, disclosed that operatives from the command had been deployed to search for the missing student.