Femi Omisore OAU lecturer's kidnappers want N70m after killing driver

From information received via Radio and Newspapers, Dr. Femi Omisore, a lecturer at OAU, was abducted on his way to a funeral last Friday, by gunmen who also killed his driver and burnt his car. Now they want his family to pay N70 million as ransom.

The abductors of Dr. Femi Omisore, a lecturer of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, have demanded a N70 million ransom for his release.

The kidnappers demanded the sum on Sunday morning, two days after his abduction.

Omisore was kidnapped by yet unidentified gunmen on Friday at Ado Ekiti, the Ekiti State capital, while travelling to Oye Ekiti for a burial ceremony.

The lecturer's driver, who had evaded the kidnappers for quite a distance was killed when they eventually caught up with him.

After forcing the lecturer out, the gunmen fired at the car's petrol tank until it exploded.

The OAU chapter Chairman of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), Dr. Caleb Aborisade, told Punch that Omisore, who taught at the Department of Environmental Design Management, was attending the burial ceremony of the father of a member of his department at the time of his abduction.

“According to the information I gathered from his family, Dr. Femi Omisore was kidnapped on Friday evening. He was going for a funeral ceremony in Oye Ekiti," Aborisade said.

“I learnt that a member of his department was burying his father in Oye Ekiti and he was traveling there when he was kidnapped.

Aborisade also confirmed that the kidnappers want N70 millions as ransom for his release, a sum which he said is beyond the union's means.

“The kidnappers use his telephone to call his wife this morning (Sunday) and they demanded N70 million ransom," the union boss said.

“We are not politicians, we are running our union with stipends from our members and where do they expect us to get such amount.”

The police are yet to give an official statement on the case.