A gang of armed men stormed the Igbosi Community in the Ose Local Government Area of Ondo State in the early hours of Friday, sending residents fleeing and leaving nine-year-old Victor Olaosebikan in the hands of kidnappers.
The assault, which unfolded in the early hours of Friday, June 5, bore the hallmarks of a carefully coordinated operation. The gunmen swept into the community under cover of darkness, discharging firearms into the night air to sow panic and scatter residents before moving with chilling precision toward their apparent target.
Among those caught in the crossfire of chaos was Pastor Isaac Olaosebikan, a clergyman known within the Igbosi community. As the thunderclap of gunshots ripped through the neighborhood, the pastor made a split-second, desperate decision; he bolted into the surrounding bush to save his life.
But in the scramble for survival, his young son Victor, just nine years of age, was left behind.
The armed men wasted no time. They forced their way into the pastor’s residence and seized the child, disappearing into the darkness with him before any help could arrive.
“He had no choice but to run,” a source familiar with the family said. “Nobody expects a man to stand unarmed against men with guns in the middle of the night. But the boy was there, and now he is gone.”
The gunmen did not confine their violence to the pastor’s compound. Another resident, Mr. Joel Owalekan, told local authorities that the armed gang also descended on his home, vandalizing the property in a frenzied attempt to gain entry. Mr. Owalekan, fortunately, managed to escape unharmed, fleeing the scene before the assailants could apprehend him.
The twin attacks painted a grim picture of a community briefly but traumatically overwhelmed: residents jolted from sleep, families scattered, homes breached, and a child stolen into the night.
By approximately 2:30 a.m., a distress report had reached the police, triggering what authorities described as an immediate and coordinated response.
Confirming the incident, the Ondo State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Abayomi Jimoh, said security operatives moved swiftly upon receiving the alarm.
“Upon receipt of the distress report, the Divisional Police Officer and his men, in collaboration with the Amotekun Corps, immediately mobilized to the scene and launched a coordinated search-and-rescue operation,” DSP Jimoh stated.
He also said security operatives combed the surrounding forests and likely escape routes in a bid to rescue the abducted child and apprehend the perpetrators.
The deployment of the Amotekun Corps, the regional security outfit established to address the peculiar security challenges of the South-West alongside conventional police forces, underscored the urgency of the situation.
Forested terrain and rural geography, familiar hideouts for criminal elements in the region, posed immediate challenges to search teams working through the early morning darkness.
DSP Jimoh further disclosed that a formal investigation has been opened into the incident, with relevant exhibits recovered at the scene and documented by operatives.
Whether the assault was premeditated, with the pastor or his family specifically targeted, or an opportunistic raid, remains a critical question that investigators are working to answer.
With Victor’s whereabouts still unknown as of the time of filing this report, DSP Jimoh made a direct appeal to the public, urging anyone with credible information about the child’s location or the identities of the suspected kidnappers to come forward without delay.
“Members of the public with credible information on the whereabouts of the abducted child or the suspects should promptly report to the nearest police station or any security agency,” he said.
The attack on Igbosi is the latest in a pattern of rural abductions and armed invasions that have plagued communities across Ondo State and the broader South-West region in recent years.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
Armed men invaded Igbosi Community in Ondo State in the early hours of Friday, June 5, abducting nine-year-old Victor Olaosebikan after his father, Pastor Isaac Olaosebikan, fled into the bush to escape the gunmen.
A neighbor’s home was also vandalized in the raid. Police and the Amotekun Corps have launched a search-and-rescue operation, with investigations underway and exhibits already recovered.
