By SCM Staff Writer I Thursday, Nov.20.25
KABBA, Nigeria – The proudest moment in a daughter’s life turned into a nightmare of terror after her father was brutally kidnapped by gunmen just hours after watching her graduate in Nigeria.
Mr. Ayotunde Obatuyi was snatched at Kabba while driving home from the Federal University of Technology, Akure (FUTA), where his daughter, Funke Grace, had just received her degree.
The celebratory trip was shattered by the horrifying incident, and now the kidnappers are demanding a staggering N10 million ransom—roughly equivalent to £5,200—to release the emotional father.
The heartbreaking news was delivered by Mr. Obatuyi’s devastated daughter, Obatuyi Funke Grace, who took to social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to beg for help.
”They took my father after his beautiful sacrifice,” she wrote, recounting the journey he had made to witness her success.
“We are now faced with this impossible demand. The joy is completely gone.”
The incident highlights the terrifying reality of Nigeria’s escalating kidnapping-for-ransom crisis, which has seen criminals targeting travelers on major highways across the country.
Kidnappings in Nigeria have become a rampant and devastating trade, particularly across the northern and central states. What began largely as an issue in the oil-rich Niger Delta has exploded into a national security emergency.
Gangs known locally as ‘bandits’ frequently raid villages, schools, and—as in Mr. Obatuyi’s case—ambush vehicles on major roads, often demanding huge ransoms in return for the victims’ release.
Recent, high-profile incidents include the mass kidnapping of hundreds of schoolchildren in Kaduna State, and numerous attacks on university campuses, making Mr. Obatuyi’s ordeal a tragically common event.
Security experts say the crisis is driven by poverty, unemployment, and a lack of effective policing, with the huge ransoms providing a lucrative income for the criminal gangs.
As Funke Grace Obatuyi desperately struggles to meet the criminals’ demands, she represents the countless Nigerian families who find themselves suddenly facing a choice between ruin and saving a loved one’s life.
