Chief Olu Falae, a respected elder of the Yoruba nation was kidnapped from his home in Ilado village, Akure North of Ondo State around 1pm on Monday, September 21, 2015. His abductors reportedly asked for a ransom of N100 million for his release.
Falae, who is a former Secretary of the Federal Government and and finance minister is an elder statesman and reported to have been abducted by a gang of Fulani herdsmen, armed with guns and machetes following confrontations with the nomads who had been trespassing his farmland in Ondo State.
This abduction, according to reports, comes after Falae had made multiple reports to the police over the activities of the herdsmen. The Falae family tell the press that the Fulani herdsmen “have been having issues with the workers in the farm over the grazing and the destruction of the farmland by their cows”.
According to a Vanguard report, “Many of his workers including the farm Manager identified as Bruno were matcheted while others were reportedly wounded and are on admission in different hospitals. The herdsmen reportedly came back on Monday in large number and attacked the farm before abducting the politician.”
Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, reacting to the abduction of the revered 77-year-old Afenifere leader says that the Yoruba nation would hold the Federal Government responsible if any harm comes to Falae.
In an email delivered to The Trent, Monday, September 21, Fani Kayode who is a former two-time minister and chieftain of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), raised alarm over the insecurity in the country and threatened saying, “let it be clearly understood that if anything happens to him and if he doesn’t come home hale and hearty we will hold the Federal Government responsible and there will be consequences”.
Fani-Kayode’s statement is below:
The abduction of Chief Olu Falae is not only unacceptable but it also an exceptionally dangerous development.
I say this because he is not only an elder-statesman of our country but he is also one of the most revered leaders of Afenifere and the south-west.
We cannot sit by idly and watch our leaders and elders being endangered, shamed and humiliated in this way. It is the governments job to keep us all safe and secure and they are failing in that duty.
I call on the President and our security agencies to effect the expeditious and immediate release of Chief Olu Falae. They must rescue him from these vagabonds and vandals as soon as possible before things get out of hand.
Let it be clearly understood that if anything happens to him and if he doesn’t come home hale and hearty we will hold the Federal Government responsible and there will be consequences.
Those that are in power would do well to take what I have said very seriously.
