Suspected bandits have attacked a farmer, Gbenga Adebayo, at Ajagbusi camp in the Ala community of Akure North Local Government Area of Ondo.

Mr Adebayo, who is currently at the emergency unit of the University of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (UNIMEDTH), Akure complex, was macheted after he was waylaid by four heavily armed bandits on his way to the farm with his younger brothers.

Speaking on Friday on his sick bed, Mr Adebayo said the bandits blocked the road and subsequently led them into a thick forest.

“They challenged us and began marching us into the thick forest. In fact, that was when I knew we had been kidnapped by the bandits, numbering about four.

“While on our way, we noticed the gap between the kidnappers, and I had to tell others that we have to be brave to rescue ourselves from their hands,” he said.

Mr Adebayo said that the bandits cut his two hands while he tried to defend himself to escape.

“I collapsed for almost two days after I managed to escape and lose blood. I never knew they were watching, but as I tried to escape, they attacked me.

“Two of them began to wrestle with me and cut my two hands during the fight; I managed to run for my life,” the farmer noted.

The police spokesperson for Ondo, Funmilayo Odunlami-Omisanya, confirmed the attack on the farmer in a chat with Peoples Gazette.

Mrs Odunlami-Omisanya said security agencies are currently on the trail of the suspects and assured that they would be arrested.

She said, “Complaint was lodged at the police station after they had escaped from the hands of the kidnapper, but our officers are currently trailing the suspects.”