A petrol dealer in Kwara State, identified as Alhaji Abbas, and his manager, Abubakar Issa, were reportedly kidnapped on Friday by unidentified gunmen at Gbugbu in Edu Local Government Area (LGA).

The abduction occurred after the end of work at the Daniyan Shaba Global Investment filling station, located in the newly rehabilitated Gbugbu International Market within the Kwara North Senatorial Zone. During the attack, the assailants stole an undisclosed sum of money, set fire to a Toyota Sienna vehicle at the station, and demanded a ransom of N200 million.

PUNCH Metro reported that the kidnappers have yet to release the victims, with negotiations ongoing.

The bandits, who reportedly arrived on motorcycles, carried out a violent operation that resulted in the burning of Alhaji Abbas's vehicle.

Abbas was said to have survived an earlier encounter with bandits.

"This is not the first time Alhaji Abbas has been attacked," a source said, adding that "the fact that they targeted him again, and this time successfully abducted him along with his manager is deeply worrying."

Some residents said the bandits retreated into a nearby forest, believed to be their hideout.

"The community is now appealing to security agencies and the state government for urgent beefing up of security and addressing the growing insecurity in the Edu Local Government Area of the state," one of the residents said.

An eyewitness, who did not want her name in print, expressed fears about the potential impact on farming activities in the area, which she described as the food basket of the state.

"We are entering the rainy season, and our farmers need to go to their farmlands," the eyewitness stated, lamenting that "If this insecurity continues to loom over us, it will force them to abandon their farms, which will have severe consequences for our community."

As of Sunday morning, the whereabouts of the dealer and his manager remained unknown.

Spokesperson of the Kwara state police command, SP Adetoun Ejire-Adeyemi, could not be reached on Sunday as she did not pick calls made to her phone, while the messages sent to her phone sms and WhatsApp were not replied to as of the time of filing this report.