Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
It was past nine on Monday evening when armed men descended on the quiet neighbourhood of Ijebu Jesa in Oriade Local Government Area of Osun State. They did not fire indiscriminately. They did not scatter the night with random gunfire. Instead, they walked up to a resident and calmly asked a single question: where is Yahaya Sulaiman? Within minutes, the man renowned among Fulani herders as a cattle rearer of considerable means had been located, overpowered, and bundled into a waiting vehicle. The attackers sped off into the darkness, leaving behind a community shaken and a family facing an ultimatum of N70 million.
The kidnapping of Yahaya Sulaiman marks an alarming escalation in the criminal landscape of the Osun‑Kwara borderlands, a corridor that has witnessed a steady rise in abductions over the past twelve months. Security sources told journalists that Sulaiman, described as a big man within the Fulani community, had become a target precisely because of his standing. His cattle business had brought him prosperity, but that same prosperity marked him out as prey. The gunmen, having done their homework, knew exactly who they were looking for.
Witnesses described the evening scene in chilling detail. The abduction occurred along the Iloko/Ijebu Jesa Road, a stretch that falls within Oriade Local Government Area. At approximately 9 p.m. on May 4, 2026, the attackers arrived, approached a local resident, and demanded to know Sulaiman’s precise whereabouts. After locating him, they seized him without resistance and sped away. A security source who spoke on condition of anonymity disclosed to the Punch newspaper that the kidnappers have since made contact with Sulaiman’s family, issuing a ransom demand of N70 million.
The sheer size of the demand is unusual, even by the standards of Nigeria’s ransom economy. For a farming region not accustomed to seven-figure‑million demands, the figure has sent shockwaves through the community. “He is a big man among Fulani men in the area. He rears cattle. Ransom of N70 million has been placed on him by the abductors who contacted his family,” the security source told Punch.
The Osun State Police Command has confirmed the abduction. The command’s Public Relations Officer, Abiodun Ojelabi, told journalists that Sulaiman was clearly singled out. “Yahaya Sulaiman, a Fulani herder, is the victim. The incident was reported and police moved to the scene immediately. From all indications, he was targeted,” Ojelabi said. He added that upon arriving at the scene, investigators learned that the gunmen had been specific in their search, asking a resident for the abducted person by name. Ojelabi disclosed that the command has launched a full‑scale investigation and called on anyone with useful information to come forward. However, he noted that the victim’s family had yet to formally report to the anti‑kidnapping unit, even as security operations in the area continued.
The targeting of Sulaiman fits a pattern of deliberate, intelligence‑driven kidnappings that have been documented in Nigeria’s South‑West. The assailants appear to have avoided the typical mass abduction tactics seen in other regions, opting instead for a surgical strike on a single individual. This suggests either a direct link between the abductors and local informants, or a longer period of surveillance that allowed them to map out the victim’s movements and circle of contacts.
Sulaiman’s relative affluence, unusual for a herdsman, may have made him a target for criminal gangs operating in the Osun‑Kwara borderlands. But his abduction also highlights an uncomfortable symmetry in Nigeria’s kidnapping economy: wealth, no matter how modest by urban standards, can easily attract rural targeting. In a region where the line between herder and farmer can be a fault line of communal tension, the abduction of a prominent Fulani cattle rearer adds another layer of complexity to community relations already strained by decades of resource conflict.
Local residents, many of whom declined to speak publicly for fear of reprisal, described the incident as a departure from the norm. While Ijebu Jesa has experienced occasional security breaches, a targeted kidnapping of this scale is rare. The community now waits in anxious uncertainty, unsure whether the gunmen will return or whether their quiet town has become the newest frontier in a spreading epidemic of abductions.
For Sulaiman, every hour that passes without a breakthrough deepens the danger. His family faces an impossible choice: raise a sum far beyond their means, or risk never seeing him again. The police have assured the public that efforts are ongoing, but no arrests have been announced. As the investigation continues, the abducted herdsman remains at the mercy of captors who knew exactly who they were taking, why they wanted him, and how much to demand for his return.
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