Three construction workers have been kidnapped along Ikaramu-Akunnu Akoko in Akoko North West Local Government Area of Ondo State on Tuesday evening by some unknown gunmen.

The workers whose name has not yet been revealed were working at the ongoing rehabilitation of Ikaramu-Akunnu road when the hoodlums struck.

When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the state police command, Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, confirmed the incident, saying an investigation had commenced into it.

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“Our men are already in the area to rescue the victims,” the PPRO stated.

The traditional ruler of Ikaram, Oba Andrew Momodu, in a reaction, confirmed that the workers were kidnapped after they closed for the day’s job.

According to him, the hoodlums struck when the expatriate contractor handling the project had just left with his policemen.

The monarch appealed for more security men to comb the forest for a rescue operation.

Similarly, the Alauga of Auga Akoko, Oba Samuel Agunloye, added, “The incessant kidnapping and other criminal acts are now worrisome in the area.”

It was gathered that the Divisional Police Officer in charge of Okeagbe Akoko, Mr Ade Akinwande, has led other officers to search the forest in a bid to rescue and release the victims.

Over 60 Bandits have stormed a military camp in Zazzaga community in Munya Local Government Area of Niger State in the early hours of Wednesday, engaging the soldiers in a gun battle, leading to heavy casualties on the side of the bandits.

This attack on the military base in the state is coming barely three weeks after some bandits in their numbers attacked a Security Joint Task Force base in Allawa and Basa in Shiroro Local Government Area of the state, killing five soldiers and a Mobile Policeman.

Although, unlike the Allawa and Basa invasion, no soldier was killed in this latest attack except one identified as the RSM of the camp who was declared missing; his whereabouts are still unknown as of the time of filing this report.

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According to a reliable source close to Zagzaga community, the bandits stormed the community at about 4.00am and shared themselves into three groups.

While one group made their way straight to the military camp located at the Junior Secondary School about 500 meters from the town where they engaged the soldiers in a gun battle, the second group laid ambush on the major road leading to the community.

The third group were said to have made their way to the community to prevent any reinforcements from the community vigilantes and the youths.

Our source said that after two hours of gun exchange from 4.00am to 6.00am, the soldiers ran out of ammunition and made a retreat but not until they (soldiers) inflated heavy casualties on the bandits.

After the soldiers made a retreat, the bandits stormed the camp, set the military vehicles on fire and went away with another. The bandits also burnt the food store in the camp.

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“I think the bandits might have used the military vehicle to evacuate the injured ones and possibly some dead ones among them because the soldiers really fought them to stand still until their ammunitions finished.

“The bandits came around 4.00am, and since that time, it has been gunshot sounds until about 6.00am this morning”, our source added.

The military camp in Zagzaga has been in existence since 2012 when the activities of the bandits took a different dimension with the killing of no fewer than 50 members of the community in one month while about 500 others fled to neighbouring communities.

The Police Public Relations Officer, Wasiu Abiodun, was not reachable to confirm the incident as all calls and messages to his phone were not responded to as at press time.

A level two student by name, Adedeji Emmanuel of Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Osun State, in the department of Management and Accounting has committed suicide.

Emmanuel, it was said, left a suicide note after he took a poisonous substance which led to his death.

It was not immediately clear why Emmanuel took the decision, as some sources close to him gave different reasons.

A classmate of the deceased, who preferred anonymity, said Emmanuel suffered depression after a failed business deal.

But another source that commented on the matter said the deceased did not look like he was depressed when he was seen near the Conference Centre of the university on Monday.

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When contacted, the Public Relations Officer of the University, Abiodun Olanrewaju, confirmed the death of the student.

Olanrewaju said, “The name of the student is Adedeji Emmanuel, a part two student of the Department of Management and Accounting.

“We appeal to parent and guidance to please let our children know that failure or depression occasioned by whatever, suicide should not be an option.

“We sympathise with the parent and friends of the deceased. He was at his formative stage.

“We heard that he left a suicide note. It pains us that the boy is no more. His action was because of one challenge or the other.”