Abduction of a Fish Farmer and Four Others at Ikangba/Agoro Axis Ogun State by Gunmen: FFRC Demands their Immediate Release
We Condemn the Worsening Security Situation in Ogun State and Call on Gov. Dapo Abiodun and Security Forces to be Alive to their Responsibility
The Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaigns (FFRC) brings to the attention of the general public, Dapo Abiodun-led government and security forces, the worsening security situation in the Ikangba/Agoro Axis in particular and Ogun state in general. The Ikangba/Agoro axis, which hosts the biggest catfish clusters in the state, located along the Old Lagos-Benin Road under the Odogbolu local government area is presently under siege by criminal gangs.
The heightened state of insecurity in the axis came to a boiling point on Monday 9th February, 2026. A fish farmer, who’s a member of both Ikangba/Agoro and Eriwe Fish Farm clusters, under the auspices of Ijebu Fish Farmers’ Association, and four others including farm workers and fish buyers were abducted around his fish farm area in Alayo fish cluster in Agoro Town.
The kidnappers numbering six(6) with assorted weapons including AK-47 guns, shot at his vehicle tyre, while he was leaving the farm, after he came to monitor the sales of his fish. The gunmen took possession of him and his wife and came to the point of sales, shooting sporadically into the air, while the customers, farmhands and middlemen scampered for safety and ran into the bush. These criminals who came on foots would later release the wife, and took the husband and four others including women with them, into the adjoining bush. As at the time of this press release, the identities of the farmhands and the customers (fish buyers from Ajah, Lagos state) are yet to be established!
The FFRC condemns this abduction, and calls for the immediate release of the kidnapped farmer and four others. We urge the Dapo Abiodun government and the police authorities to do everything in their power to secure their freedom from the kidnappers’ den, safe and sound.
The police officers from the Obalende Divisional Police Station Ijebu Ode, with vigilante, Agbakoya and local hunters promptly came to the crime scene in less than three (3) minutes, following an announcement made on a local radio station calling for the intervention of security forces. However, the police seemed overwhelmed on arrival. And despite their numbers and being told by eye witnesses that the criminals wouldn’t have gone far, since they were walking with their victims in the bush, they remained at the crime scene without going further! As at the time of this press release, the kidnappers have made contacts with the families of the victims demanding seventy million naira(N70m) each as ransom!
The FFRC notes that this kidnapping incident is not an isolated event. Rather, it’s an accumulation of mutually linked incidences in the same unbroken chain of insecurity in Ikangba/Agoro! Recall that a few weeks ago, the Ogun state chapter of the CDWR (Campaign for Democratic and Workers’ Rights’) had called the attention of the Dapo Abiodun government and the Nigeria Police Force. to the escalating insecurity in the axis. Sadly, both the police and the state government did nothing to improve the security situation in both communities. Meanwhile, the police keep mounting road blocks morning and evening everyday, extorting and harassing motorists, especially the motorcycle and tricycle drivers. Ironically, Alayo fish farm cluster in Agoro, where the farmer and others were abducted is located along this route!
This has again underscored the deteriorating insecurity in the state under Gov. Dapo Abiodun-led APC government. The Ikangba/Agoro abduction is one too many, as various communities suffer one form of insecurity or another, as criminals ply their trade unchallenged. A year ago, a fish farmer was kidnapped from his farm at Ijebu Igbo. He was killed by his abductors after collecting million of naira in ransom, and buried him in shallow grave. The perpetuators were later apprehended. Few months ago, a worker was abducted in one of the quarries along Ijebu Ode-Ibadan Road. Few weeks later, a poultry farmer in the same axis was also abducted in his farm gate at Iperin village and later freed after the family paid a ransom of fifty million naira(#50m)! These are asides numerous kidnapping cases across the state, that get unreported, while victims and their relatives suffer in silence.
Given these spate of insecurity across the state, and the recent aforementioned abduction in the Ikangba/Agoro axis, the residents especially the fish farmers now live in palpable fears, as atmosphere of uncertainty pervades the various fish farmer clusters.
The current state of insecurity cannot be divorced from the worsening economic hardships, and the cost of living crisis. Something not unconnected with the implementation of anti-poor neo-liberal capitalist policies of the governments’ including the fuel subsidy removal, devaluation of the naira and electricity tariff hikes. These policies have led to high cost food, high rate of youth unemployment, high cost of rent, among others. The FFRC, therefore reiterates its call for the total reversal of these policies, linked with massive investments in social sectors, including agriculture, education, healthcare, roads, low cost housing among others.
Flowing from above, the FFRC urges communities to take their destinies into their own hands, by forming multi ethnic, multi-religious and non-sectarian defense committees, under democratic leadership and control, which can bear arms when necessary as a counter measure to the seeming intractable and pervasive security threats across the state. In conclusion, we reiterate our call to the police authorities and the state government to ensure the release of the abducted farmer, farmworkers and fish buyers. In addition, we also call on the government to take the lives of citizens more seriously, by putting machinery in place to secure lives and property, something which is the primary responsibility of the government. We also urge the fish farmers and their Communities to get united and embark on a series of mass actions including meetings, press conference, protest, rallies, demonstrations, sit-ins etc, to force the government and the police authorities not only to secure the freedom of the victims, but to ensure the perpetrators are found, arrested and duly prosecuted to prevent recurrence.
Eko John Nicholas
National Coordinator
Food and Farmers’ Rights Campaign (FFRC)