File: Amotekun operatives

‎‎The Ondo State Security Network Agency, also known as the Amotekun Corps, on Tuesday, said it rescued two young Fulani herders who were abducted by suspected kidnappers inside a forest along the Ondo–Edo State boundary.
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‎‎According to the corps, the victims, Abubakar Umaru and Abdullahi Umaru, were reportedly tending cattle in the Owo area of the state when they were abducted and whisked into the forest.
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‎The state Commander of the corps, Adetunji Adeleye, stated that the operatives moved to action after the victims’ parents reported that the boys were yet to return home with their cattle.
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‎”The briefing today is unique, in the sense that out of the hundreds of rescued victims, we singled out this particular situation where two Fulani boys were kidnapped and their cattle rescued in Owo Local Government. We moved into action because they reported that the children who went out did not come back on time.
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‎“First, we were able to retrieve all the cows. Then, we went after, looking for the children—the two boys who went out with the cows. When it became apparent that the boys had been kidnapped, we went deep into the forest, linking Ondo to Edo into an area called Abuja Forest between Ondo and Edo in our local government,” Adeleye narrated.
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‎The Amotekun commander, who disclosed that the search team eventually traced the abductors’ hideout and successfully rescued the victims, noted that the kidnappers fled upon discovering that security operatives had surrounded the area.
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‎He commended the residents for providing timely intelligence that aided the operation and reiterated the agency’s commitment to protecting all residents regardless of ethnicity.
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He assured that ‎“the Ondo State Security Network Agency does not discriminate. A criminal from Yoruba, from Igbo, from Hausa, or from Fulani is a criminal. We treat them as such.”

In July 2026, the security outfit arrested a 56-year-old man identified as Iliasu, and his three sons: Usman, 33; Wahab, 27; and Yakubu,18; for kidnapping a man at Oba Akoko, Akoko South-West Local Government Area of the state.

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