A member of the Oodua Peoples Congress (OPC) in Ondo State has been murdered by some marauders suspected to be Fulani herdsmen.

Daniel Adejuyigbe, was killed last weekend at a forest in Iju, Akure North Local Government Area of the state while joining his team to search for a farmer, Solomon Akinmeji, abducted by the suspects.

The local farmer, Akinmeji was earlier abducted at his farm in Okeji settlement, a border town between Iju town and Ikere in Ekiti State, prompting the OPC members to initiate a search team for his rescue.

Confirming the sad incident on Wednesday, a member of the OPC, Mr. Ogundeji Ayodeji, said the suspected Fulani herdsmen roamed into the farm while Mr. Akinmeji was harvesting on his farmland and immediately got him seized.

He explained that other local farmers on experiencing the attack escaped with bruises on their bodies while their friend was taken away into the bush.

According to him, the incident forced the leaders of the OPC to organized a search for the abducted farmer last week Sunday to rescue him from his abductors.

“But the search didn’t yield any positive response. We quickly had to report the incident to the Police Division in Iju including the Amotekun Corps”.

While revealing that both the police and Amotekun Corps joined the search for the abducted farmer in the bush, Mr. Ayodeji said the search team was all ambushed by the suspected herdsmen who engaged them in a gun duel before the attack was repelled.

He added that the rescue team, numbering about thirty again, proceeded on another search on Tuesday and moved into the forest with the late Adejuyigbe with aim of freeing the abducted kidnapper.

“Adejuyigbe joined us in the search team on Tuesday and headed to a separate direction in the rescue mission inside the bush.

“But after the whole exercise, we all assembled for a headcount only for us to notice that he was not present with us and this forced us to immediately began another search of the forest for the missing Adejuyigbe

“His dead body was later found at a place where the local tent supposedly built by the herders were located with his legs and hands tied and eyes blindfolded”, he added.

Explaining that the remains of the late Adejuyigbe had been deposited at the hospital’s morgue, Ayodeji revealed that the abducted farmer is still in the camp of the kidnappers.

Mr. Tee-Leo Ikoro, Police Public Relations Officer in Ondo State confirmed the incident in an interview adding that investigation into the case has begun. He also made it known that the Police Commissioner in the State, Bolaji Salami has ordered a manhunt for the kidnappers.