6 Killed, Others Injured In Ondo Robbery Incident

No fewer than six persons were killed while several others injured in an armed robbery incident which occurred at Uso/Owo expressway in Owo Local Government Area of Ondo State on New Year’s Eve.



Sources said the armed robbers dressed in police uniforms stopped motorists by shooting sporadically.

Two persons on motorcycle were said to have been killed instantly by the hoodlums’ bullets.


Four of those who sustained gunshot injuries were brought in dead into the Federal Medical Center (FMC), Owo.

One of those killed, Fatai Awosusi, was on his way to Ipeme to celebrate the New Year festival when he was killed by the armed robbers’ bullets.


Awosusi, who was shot along the Owo/Akure Road, died at University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Teaching Hospital in Ondo.

Another eyewitness who is a lecturer in the department of Languages, Rufus Giwa Polytechnic, Owo, (RUGIPO) Dr Ayodele said she and other travellers were New Year’s Eve miraculously saved from kidnappers on the dreaded Akure-Owo Expressway.

The incident, which was perceived to be a robbery attack, happened between Uso and Ogbese axis of the road.

Dr Ayodele, in message posted on the WhatsApp platform of RUGIPO’s chapter of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic, ASUP said, “We just escaped armed robbery some 30mins ago. This happened between Ogbese and Uso; some two mins drive to Uso from Ogbese. We were practically face to face with death. Some people were killed. We had a very narrow escape.  Praise God on our behalf”.

Some of the victims who suffered gunshot were said to have been rushed to the Federal Medical Centre

Reacting to the incident, Dr Raman Abubakri of the Department of Mass Communication, who was once escaped being kidnapping in the axis called on government to find a lasting solution to the incessant kidnappings on the road.


He said: “The soldiers’ fire brigade approach is not the solution. Provision should be made for soldiers to be constant on the notorious road. Besides, the thick bushes at the right and left sides should be cleared for about 100 meters from the main road.

“These measures will checkmate the boldness of the criminals who are now desperate to make money at all cost,” the message read in part.

It would be recalled that kidnapping has been on the increase in the axis in recent times even leading to the death of a lecturer in the polytechnic.

And since then, government beefed up security on the road with police stationed at strategic places.