By Jimoh Sulyman
The gruesome killings of Rachel Opadele, a final year student of Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Ogbomoso and her hotelier boss, Olugbenga Owolabi on Tuesday in the hands of their abductors sent cold shivers down the spine of the township of Ogbomoso and the country at large.
The duo of Opadele and Owolabi were subject of News when they were both kidnapped
on the 28th of July at Owolabi’s Tana Suites hotel, located in Abaa area of Ogbomoso after which an initial ransom of #100million was demanded by their abductors which was later renegotiated to #5million by the family.
Owolabi was said to be living in Maryland, United States of America and recently decided to invest in a hospitality business in Ogbomoso. The hotel was said to have been opened in December 2021 and he was killed a few months after.
He was reported to have travelled outside of the country a few weeks ago and only returned to Ogbomoso the day he was kidnapped by the hoodlums.
Source who spoke to newsmen disclosed that the families of the victims rallied around to raise the demanded ransom but were given the shock of their lives when they received the news of the death of their loved ones.
It was gathered that the families of the victims effect the payment of the demanded ransom through an established link who went to their hideout along the Ogbomoso-Ilorin expressway in a motorbike otherwise known as Okada.
Anticipating possible arrest by the soldiers deployed to monitor the security situation in the Ogbomoso area, the gunmen became suspicious of the link person.
It was gathered after collecting the demanded sum, they opened fire on the victims, the link person and the Okada riders.
The kidnap victims, as reliably informed died on the spots while an Okada rider who escaped with bullet wounds is currently receiving medical attention at an undisclosed hospital.
The remains of late Rachael Opadele has been interred at the Baptist Conference Cemetery, Aroje, Ogbomoso on Friday.
