Police spokesman in the state, ASP Sunday Abutu, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that three persons had been arrested in connection with the abduction.

“We learnt that the couple came to Ado Ekiti and were returning to their base when they were picked up by gunmen.

“Immediately we got the report, the Police Commissioner, Babatunde Mobayo, mobilised our men and officers to the surrounding forests.

“As I speak, our men are working in conjunction with ‘Amotekun’’ Corps, local hunters and Vigilance groups, combing the forests to free the victims,’’ he said.

ASP Abutu said those arrested had been detained at the police headquarters in Ado-Ekiti and would be arraigned as soon as investigations were concluded.

He said that efforts were on to arrest other accomplices.

Eyewitnesses told NAN that the victims were seized on Ilasa-Ekiti-Ayebode Road, in Ekiti East Local Government Area.

The victims were returning from Ado Ekiti, where they had gone to make purchases for their wedding when they were abducted.

Family members of the victims said that the abductors had contacted the family and demanded N5 million ransom to secure their freedom.

One witness said the vehicle conveying the would-be couple was attacked at a bad portion of the highway.

“The deplorable condition of our roads seems to be a major factor responsible for these repeated cases of kidnapping,’’ the eyewitness stressed.

Police in the Western Region discovered that she capitalised on her ex-husband’s permission to send their two children to visit their grandmother at Beposo to frame him in order to get the man arrested to teach him a lesson.

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According to the Metropolitan Police Crime Officer, Superintendent Alhaji Musah Hussein Awinaba, Lucy called the police emergency line to complain that someone had kidnapped her two children.

However, upon interrogation, they realized that Lucy had misled the police with a premeditated ploy to put her ex-husband in trouble.

Ghana has in recent days been hit with kidnappings, especially in the Western Region.

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Police are still searching for the missing Takoradi girls.

Last month, 15 suspects were arrested at Odumasi by the police in the Eastern Region in collaboration with their colleagues from the Western Region.

Also, Ghana’s security agencies are reportedly collaborating with their American counterparts to find the missing girls.

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Margeret Cudjoe stated she has taken extra precaution ever since the news of kidnapping gained currency in the community and got alarmed when she saw the alleged kidnapper.

Narrating incident, the bewildered mother said her daughter had returned from an errand and had left to go and play.

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Minutes after, she saw through her curtains a gentleman – the alleged kidnapper – beckoning someone.

According to the mother, the gentleman did not look familiar.

“Given that I’ve heard on radio about the recent kidnappings in the area, I became alarmed and came out,” she said.

She stated that “just after I came out, I met my daughter and asked her where she was going and she told me the gentleman I had seen earlier asked her to show him the way to a mobile shop”.

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Margeret Cudjoe continued: “This time I became more scared and turned my attention back to the gentleman but then he was nowhere to be seen”.

According to her, she started searching for the gentleman and later found him at a drinking bar nearby.

“I accosted him and hooked him by his shirt and started interrogating him but then another young man – Ebenezer – who was at the bar threatened to slap me because my accusation was baseless.

“l let go of his shirt and started arguing with Ebenezer.”

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She continued: “It was while arguing with Ebenezer that the gentleman I saw perhaps bolted because when I turned he was not in the bar anymore.

“I came out and raised an alarm and one young guy said he saw someone in red top running towards the bush and so the young men around took sticks and clubs and also headed for the same direction”.

Before long, the news of the alleged kidnapping had spread throughout Sekondi-Takoradi, drawing many residents to Kansaworado.

Unfortunately, despite frantic search, the alleged kidnapper was not found.

But according to Amos Kojo Obeng Tawiah – whose relative Richlove Quayson has been kidnapped – some valcanizers along the road claimed someone that fit the description of the alleged kidnapper was seen entering a black 4×4 vehicle few meters away while search was ongoing.

Unfortunately at that time, they did not suspect anything so they did not give any alarm but one said he saw only GT 17 of the car’s number plate.

Mr Obeng Tawiah has since the kidnapping formed a committee that patrols the Kansaworado and Diabene area.

He indicated that “in the past few months this area has seen an increase in Nigerian young men living in uncompleted buildings”.

Currently “what we are doing is looking for the owners of such uncompleted buildings to tell them to evict the Nigerians”.

“Some of the young men here have resolved not to spare anyone found in an uncompromising instance”.

Kansaworado is close by Diabene, where three girls have been kidnapped in Sekondi-Takoradi

Chairman of Parliament’s Defence and Interior Committee has defended the police’s handling of the kidnapping of three girls in Takoradi, insisting they are doing their best.

Seth Acheampong said they are on course to helping find the missing girls and reuniting them with their families.

“The bottom line is for them to go after the leads that they are getting…we need to understand and appreciate the standard operating procedures of investigations,” he told Joy News’ Joseph Opoku Gakpo Thursday.

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According to him, it is not right for the police to tell the public what leads they have as that will compromise the investigation and alert the perpetrators to cover their tracks.

“Mind you, the kidnappers are within our fold and we cannot throw our leads out…the police are doing their best and it takes time to get to the bottom of this,” the Mpraeso MP said.

Security analysts have demanded the removal of the Western Regional Police Commander, ACP Redeemer Vincent Dedzo, over their failure to locate the girls till date.

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The police say they have tried unsuccessfully to get a  suspected kidnapper to disclose the whereabouts of some teenage girls he has abducted.

According to Commander, Redeemer Vincent Dedzo, the suspect, Samuel Wilson Udoterg – a Nigerian – who has been in their custody for weeks, has until now refused to reveal the exact location of the girls and there is nothing the police can do about it.

DCOP Vincent Dedzo is Western Regional Police Commander

“We have tried all means to talk to him. In the initial stages, he took us to Kasoa [Central region suburb] and we combed the whole of Kasoa yet he could not lead us to where the victims are.

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“He is not even ready to talk. He will tell you he doesn’t know where the victims are,” he told Joy News.

The police have come under heavy pressure for their lethargic approach to finding the girls and have been criticised for failing to publish the girls’ identity early enough for the public to help with information.

But Mr Acheampong says his briefing indicates the police are closing in on the perpetrators but are only not giving out enough information to the public.

“I have been informed that they are seriously on the ground and working…I have spoken to senior officers of the Police Service and they have given me that assurance [regarding the progress of the case] and I trust them,” he said.

He says the committee will invite the security agencies so it probes the issue when the House resumes sitting.

Nikoi, a Ghanaian national, is reported to have arrived in Cape Town on March 17 on holiday and to celebrate her wedding anniversary with her family.

She went missing a few days later – on Human Rights Day – when she went for a hike on Table Mountain.

Zuma’s spokesperson, Bongani Ngqulunga, said the president made a special plea for assistance to find Nikoi.

“We appeal to anyone with information to assist the police to locate Ms Nikoi so that she can be reunited with her family. The South African Police and other departments such as Social Development will continue to provide as much support as possible during this difficult time,” said Zuma.

Nikoi’s husband Chris believes she might be kept “against her will”, and asked for the potential kidnapper “not harm her and release her safely”.

“If anyone is holding her, please don’t hurt her, release her because her family needs her,” he said.

Chris said Nikoi disappeared on March 21 when she and their daughter went hiking up Platteklip Gorge.

“We have done all efforts of searching Table Mountain and clearly she is not there. She is somewhere against her will,” he said.

Chris has not been at work since Nikoi vanished.

“This is the most difficult time the family has found itself in,” said Chris, adding that their 22-year-old daughter is taking the news of her mother’s disappearance very hard as she will be graduating at the end of the month.

“The graduation day will be the most difficult day without her,” he said, adding that their other two children, 16 and 20, living in the US, were receiving counselling.

“I am lying in bed thinking what I could have done to prevent her from going missing. Not a single day passes without my children calling asking if she has been found.

I am hoping that the government will leave no stone unturned to locate her,” said Chris.

Police spokesperson Noloyiso Rwexana said the “search for the missing person is ongoing, all leads are followed, the missing person has not been found yet”.