By Sarah Sam Adda
A newly inducted radiographer, Basheerah Ojedeyi, has been kidnapped while travelling from Sokoto to Osun State to begin her internship, with her abductors demanding a ransom of N200 million for her release.
Her family confirmed the abduction on Wednesday, barely a week after another young professional, newly called lawyer Peace Udoka Onyesom, and her sister, Gift, were kidnapped in Abuja.
According to relatives, Ojedeyi, who was inducted into the Association of Radiographers of Nigeria last week, left Sokoto on Sunday for Osogbo.
On Monday afternoon, she informed her family that her vehicle had broken down at Mokwa, Niger State. Shortly afterward, she became unreachable.
The kidnappers contacted the family on Tuesday, demanding N200m and threatening to kill her if the ransom was not paid.
The case has been reported to police authorities in Sokoto and Niger states, though police spokespersons were yet to provide updates as of press time.
Reacting to the incident, the National President of the Association of Radiographers of Nigeria (ARN), Dr. Musa Dambele, condemned the abduction as “an attack on healthcare professionals.”
He urged President Bola Tinubu and security agencies to act swiftly to secure her release, describing the ransom demand as “inhuman.”
Ojedeyi’s ordeal adds to a spate of recent kidnappings across Nigeria. In February, an NYSC member, Rofiat Lawal, was abducted along the Benin-Ore Expressway and released after her family paid N1m.
On September 9, gunmen kidnapped three passengers of an 18-seater bus at Aku village along the Okene-Lokoja Expressway in Kogi State.
