The Ondo State Security Network Agency, codenamed Amotekun Corps, has arrested two suspected kidnappers, including one allegedly caught while negotiating ransom payments.

The Commander of the Amotekun Corps in Ondo State, Adetunji Adeleye, disclosed this on Monday while parading 10 suspects arrested for various offences across the state.

Adeleye said one of the suspected kidnappers, identified as Gambo, 27, was apprehended during a ransom negotiation operation coordinated by Amotekun operatives and informants.

According to him, the suspect was unaware that security operatives had closed in on him while he was discussing ransom demands before he was arrested behind the Shasha area of Akure.

He added that another suspect, Murtala, 19, was arrested with a locally made firearm and other weapons after allegedly attempting to kidnap the wife of his former employer in Molege, Owo.

The Amotekun commander revealed that Murtala had allegedly gained access to the woman’s residence with the intention of abducting her, but the operation failed after the family raised an alarm, prompting a swift response from security operatives and local residents.

Adeleye also disclosed that Amotekun recently rescued a woman and her two children from suspected kidnappers following a distress call from the Isinigbo/Osi axis of the state.

“I received a distress call directly from the Isinigbo/Osi area, and within five minutes, my men were there. After a brief scuffle with the kidnappers, we were able to rescue the woman and her two children from the claws of the kidnappers,” he said.

He commended members of the Fulani community who assisted security operatives in identifying some criminal elements, noting that their cooperation contributed significantly to the successful arrest of the suspects.

The commander further revealed that investigations showed one of the suspects had confessed to involvement in several kidnapping activities and had planned to target his former employer’s family in his latest operation.

Aside from the kidnapping suspects, eight other suspects were paraded for offences ranging from motorcycle theft, armed robbery to burglary of churches and housebreaking.

Adeleye said the latest arrests reflected the commitment of security agencies to combating crime across the state, adding that criminal activities had reduced significantly due to sustained security operations.

He assured residents that security operatives would continue to maintain surveillance and respond swiftly to threats in order to protect lives and property across Ondo State.

The implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase approved for university lecturers by President Bola Tinubu is facing fresh uncertainty as the Federal Government has allegedly failed to release funds to federal universities to sustain the payment, the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has said.

Prof. Florence Onyebuchi Orabueze, Chairperson of the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN) chapter of ASUU, said the university had been paying the approved increment despite the Federal Government’s failure to provide the necessary funds

Orabueze said the university’s internally generated revenue (IGR) could not continue to shoulder the financial burden of the salary increase, warning that ASUU could embark on another nationwide strike if the government fails to address the funding problem.

She said the Federal Government had reimbursed UNN for only part of the money it spent on the salary adjustment.

“The Vice Chancellor is not owing us anything; it is just that the Federal Government is not giving them the money for the payment. The problem is that the government is not releasing the money,” Orabueze said.

According to her, the UNN management initially used its IGR to fund the payment from January to June, but the Federal Government only reimbursed the institution for the period between January and May.

“When he paid from January to June, then they reimbursed him from January to May. But that of June, the Federal Government hasn’t paid. They haven’t also paid for July,” she said.

Orabueze said the funding challenge was not peculiar to UNN, insisting that it was a nationwide problem affecting the implementation of the 40 per cent salary increase agreed under the 2025 Federal Government-ASUU renegotiated agreement.

“The problem of the payment of 40 per cent salary increment for the 2025 FGN/ASUU renegotiated agreement is a nationwide issue, and not that of UNN,” she said.

The UNN ASUU chairperson said the union’s National Executive Council (NEC), which recently met in Abuja, was concerned about what members considered the government’s failure to fully implement the agreement.

She said the union was considering industrial action between the end of August and early September if the funding issue was not resolved.

“Part of the decision was that because the Federal Government is not serious about implementing the whole thing, that by the end of this month… between the end of this month and September, early September, ASUU, at the national level, will go on strike,” she said.

She stressed that UNN had been able to pay the increment only because its management had committed its own resources to the process.

“UNN has paid from January to June. Federal Government owes them. But that of July, like all others, they haven’t been able to pay, and that is because there is no way the IGR can carry it,” she said.

According to Orabueze, discussions at the ASUU NEC meeting involving representatives from almost 100 universities showed that the funding crisis was widespread.

“When we went to Abuja for NEC, more than almost 100 universities, we found out that no federal university has paid that of July,” she said.

She also said several state universities were already involved in industrial disputes over salary and other issues.

Orabueze expressed frustration over what she described as the government’s treatment of university lecturers, comparing their approved salary increase with the reported 300 per cent increase for judicial officers.

“The Federal Government is not serious with us. They gave judges 300 per cent, but the lecturers who are even training everybody, including judges, even to pay us 40 per cent is becoming very hard for them,” she said.

She said lecturers had accepted the 40 per cent increase despite reservations because they wanted to avoid prolonged disruption of academic activities.

“We took 40 per cent, and even to pay that 40 per cent is hard, they are withholding our money,” she said.

Orabueze said lecturers had previously called off industrial action partly because of the impact prolonged strikes would have on students from poor families.

“We called off the strike in October last year because they said that it’s only poor Nigerians that are studying here. So we called off the strike because of poor Nigerians like us,” she said.

She added: “Why is it impossible that they don’t want to even pay those of us who agreed to stay in Nigeria to teach our children? Why is it that they are finding it difficult to pay us 40 per cent?”

Suspected bandits have reportedly abducted the traditional ruler of Igbesi community in Isin Local Government Area of Kwara State, alongside several residents, during an attack on the community.

The attackers also reportedly kidnapped the first wife of the Baale of Dabu community in Ifelodun Local Government Area, popularly known as Iya Ayoka.

The separate incidents, which occurred in communities across Kwara South, have raised fresh security concerns among residents in the area.

Report says the traditional ruler was reportedly abducted when suspected bandits attacked Igbesi at about 11pm on Saturday.

Sources said the attackers took the monarch and several other residents to an undisclosed location. As of Sunday, no ransom demand had reportedly been made for their release.

The abduction of the monarch was confirmed by the Kwara State Commissioner of Police, CP Ojo Adekimi, on Sunday night that security agencies had commenced efforts to locate and rescue him.

Adekimi said, “The police were collaborating with other security agencies and relevant stakeholders to secure the safe release of the traditional ruler”.

He explained that the circumstances surrounding the incident were still being established, adding that the late hour of the attack made it difficult to immediately determine the number of attackers involved.

The CP said, “Security operatives were already in the bush as part of efforts to track the perpetrators”, adding that his men had recovered some rustled cattle during the operation.

He, however, clarified that the recovered cattle were not connected with the abduction of the monarch.

In a separate incident, the first wife of the Baale of Dabu community in Ifelodun Local Government Area, popularly known as Iya Ayoka, was also reportedly abducted by suspected bandits.

The chairman of Ifelodun Local Government Area, Alhaji Femi Yusuf, confirmed the incident to Newsmen, saying security operatives were already on the trail of the abductors and working to rescue the woman.

He, however, described the incident as an isolated occurrence, stressing that the security situation in the council had improved considerably in recent times.