Families in Itsukwi, Edo state sold belongings and borrowed heavily to raise N11 million ransom, only for kidnappers to kill 80-year-old Pa Michael Arekheyemhe after 15 days in captivity. The elderly man and a woman were abducted on April 15 when armed gunmen attacked the rural community in Ward 9, Etsako East local government area, firing sporadic shots that sent residents fleeing in panic.
A young boy who ran into the attackers was brutally macheted. Overnight searches by local youths found no trace of the abductees. For 24 hours, the kidnappers remained silent. When they finally made contact, they demanded N50 million, a sum the community could not possibly raise. During negotiations, the families discovered the kidnappers had also taken a teenage girl from neighbouring Imiakebu.
The community reported the matter to police stationed barely a kilometre away, but residents said officers demanded money before taking action. When youths searched nearby bushes and forests with cutlasses, they found nothing. The Head of Station could not be reached for comment. Residents claimed security agencies, including the DSS, were given the kidnappers' phone numbers but took no action. Through Ward 9 councillor Hon. Usman Igbasekhe, the Etsako East local government chairman mobilised soldiers and mobile policemen to the area, but accounts of their response differ sharply.
Some residents said the operatives never ventured deep into the forests. Others claimed they simply visited, asked questions, and promised to return, a promise never kept. With security forces offering little help, families bore the entire burden of securing their relatives' release. After 15 days, they scraped together N11 million through loans, borrowing, and selling personal possessions. One family member described the ordeal of delivering the ransom. They were sent first to BUA Cement area in Obu-Okpella, then redirected to Lokoja in Kogi State, then guided by phone across 8 kilometres of thick darkness and lonely terrain on foot. They paid the ransom on May 3 late at night, exhausted and disoriented, and returned home the next morning. Eight days later, families received word that Pa Michael had died in captivity.
Itsukwi and surrounding communities like Okpekpe, Imiegba, and Imiakebu have faced repeated attacks from suspected armed herders and kidnappers, making farming and daily life extremely dangerous. Several people have been killed in earlier incidents. The latest tragedy has left the once peaceful community gripped by grief, fear, and anger. What happened to Mrs. Jenneth Igbe and the teenage girl from Imiakebu remains unclear. The families who paid ransom are demanding an investigation into how the kidnappers operated with impunity and why security agencies failed to act on intelligence they were given.
