The Ondo State Security Network Agency, otherwise known as the Amotekun Corps, has revealed that one of the suspects involved in the killing of the Ward 5 Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ose Local Council Area of the state, Nelson Adepoyigi, has been arrested.

Commander of the Amotekun Corps in the state, Adetunji Adeleye, disclosed this while parading no fewer than 32 suspected kidnappers and other criminals at the headquarters of the corps in Akure, the state capital.

According to the Amotekun boss, the arrested suspect, whose identity was not disclosed, was the prime suspect who was tracked following intel received.

Adepoyigi, kidnapped last month while returning from his farm located on the Ifon-Owo road by suspected armed groups, was killed in the custody of the abductors.

The abductors had contacted his family to demand a sum of N100 million. The family raised ₦5 million after the kidnappers reduced the ransom to ₦30 million.

The abduction, however, took a twist when the kidnappers, who were not pleased with the amount offered by the distraught family, detained two men who took the ransom to their den.

Adeleye, who concealed the identity of the suspect due to an ongoing investigation, stressed that the suspect had led operatives of the Amotekun Corps to the bush where the APC chairman was kept before he was killed.

He said, “One of the prime suspects in the killing of a ward chairman in Ose had been arrested. He had confessed.

He had taken us back into the forest where we retrieved some of the items they took.”

While emphasising that the arrest was a breakthrough in the ongoing investigation and efforts to curb violent crimes in the state, Adeleye maintained that the suspected kidnappers arrested were nabbed in Ute-Owo Forest,
Jugbere Forest, Irese, the Ose/Ifon/Elekbeke Axis, the Oda Road Axis, and Ipele in Owo.

“This is a general overview of the 32 suspects that we have on parade today. Based on this analysis, Ondo State is generally peaceful, and we want to assure farmers, especially, that in line with the government’s directive under

Governor Lucky Aiyedatiwa, the Amotekun rangers remain stationed in the forest.

“We want to reassure them of their safety, but I want to advise that suspected movements should be communicated to us,” he said.