Abductors of the Chief Medical Director of General Hospital, Idoani, Ondo State, Olufemi Adeogun, have demanded a ransom of N6m.
Dr Adeogun was kidnapped on Monday evening while travelling on the failed portion of Owani-Idoani Road en route Owo own.
He was abducted together with two other health workers, who were waylaid and seized on the road by the gunmen.
One of the victims, Mrs Foluke Ajibola, is a record officer in the government-owned hospital.
The kidnappers had shot the driver of the vehicle in the arm before marching the abducted health workers into the forest.
It was gathered that motorists plying the route, who witnessed the attack from a distance, reported the kidnap to the police.
A family source, who ask not to be named, revealed that the hoodlums contacted the family with a private telephone line.
She explained that they initially demanded a ransom of N100m before it was later reduced to N6m after several pleas.
“The kidnappers contacted us and they said we would have to pay the sum of N100m if we want them to release the victims especially the doctor.
“They have even spoken to us twice and asked how much we had been able to raise but we were only begging them to have mercy on us.
“Later, they told us to go and look for N6m and that they have been able to reduce the ransom for us but to source the fund is still a challenge.
“We are also talking to families of the remaining victims too and they can’t raise such fund but the police have asked us to be patient, that they would rescue them.”
Meanwhile, health workers in the hospital have decried the incessant kidnap of people within the axis, noting that security agencies needed to find a better approach to tackle the menace.
A medical doctor in the hospital told our correspondent that they were now living in fear of kidnappers going by latest events.
Mr Tee-Leo Ikoro, spokesperson for the police in Ondo State l, did not respond to calls when contacted on Wednesday.
Spokesperson for the Nigerian Army, 32 Artillery Brigade, Akure, Mr Ayorinde Omojokun, told SaharaReporters that they had deployed men to the forest to secure the release of the victims.
SaharaReporters