Divers Bewail Over Akure-Ilesha Expressway

MOTORISTS plying the Akure-Ilesha expressway have cried out over the incessant robbery activities by hoodlums suspected to be herdsmen who kidnap, rape, kill, maim and dispossess them of their hard earned money running into millions of naira in the last two months. Infact, deep rooted fear now grip motorists plying the highway  following reports of the daily robberies  carried out there. Reports have it that passengers in commercial buses result in fervent prayers when they are about getting to this axis of the highway and after escaping any attack, they give praises to God for their divine escape. Akure-Ilesha highway Within this period, some important personalities have lost their lives during the spate of unchecked robberies on the highway. More worrisome is the lukewarm attitude of security operatives in both Ondo and Osun states to the plight of motorists who cannot but ply this road because of a lack of an alternative. Of concern also was that the robbers carry out their nefarious activities despite several security check points on the busy expressway. Some motorists believed that the robbers live inside the thick forest and return there after each operation outwitting security agencies each time. Escape from the robbery scene Reports had it that the robbers also engage in kidnapping on the road and only release their victims after payment of ransom by their families. One of those who met his untimely death was the former Managing Director of Daily Times, Adinoyi Ojo Onukaba, who was killed while returning from the launching of former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s Presidential Library  in Abeokuta, Ogun State. His vehicle ran into the robbers during one of their operations in the area around Ero village just before Ilara Mokin in Ifedore council area of Ondo State. Onukaba who reportedly abandoned his vehicle to take cover at a nearby bush was, however, knocked down by another commercial bus, trying to escape from the robbery scene. He died instantly after the bus ran over him why trying to find a hiding iplace. The bus driver then escaped.