The Kogi State Police Command announced on Sunday that two of the abducted students from Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, have been killed by their abductors.
State Commissioner of Police Bethrand Onuoha disclosed this during a press briefing in Lokoja.
Mr. Onuoha described the killing of the students by their abductors as unfortunate.
Although He did not provide details of the incident but assured that security operatives were actively pursuing the kidnappers to bring them to justice.
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The kidnapping occurred around 9:00 p.m. on May 9, when the assailants invaded the school.
The students were studying in their classrooms in preparation for exams scheduled for May 13 when the kidnappers began shooting indiscriminately into the air and abducted several students.
Although security agencies, aided by local hunters, managed to rescue 21 of the abducted students, while some students still remain in captivity.
In response to the killings, the non-governmental organization Education For All condemned the tragic deaths of the two students.
This condemnation came despite ongoing ransom negotiations between the parents and the kidnappers. Nasir Ibrahim, the NGO’s Publicity Secretary, expressed this in a statement released in Lokoja.
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Mr. Ibrahim described the killings as the height of callousness. He stated that the intent of the kidnappers was to scare young people from attending school, which he termed as unfortunate.
He said, “It is sad that the criminals killed two of the students who were not among the 21 rescued through the operation coordinated by the Kogi State Government. The circumstances of their kidnap and being traced to a forest in Kwara State by security agencies have yet to be ascertained. This is sad, callous and a call for collective action against attackers of educational institutions. We are aware that parents of the students were negotiating with the kidnappers which slowed down the offensive on the kidnappers by security agencies so as not to endanger the lives of the captives. We were hopeful and optimistic that they will be released at the end of the negotiations.”
Mr Ibrahim further said that information “reaching us shows that the students allegedly killed were James Michael Anajuwe, a 100 level Information Technology student and Musa Hussein, a 100 level Software Engineering student of the university. They were allegedly killed at the kidnappers’ hideout in Kwara. We are broken and shattered that despite the efforts of the parents, NGOs and the state government, we still lost these promising students.”
He urged the Kogi State government to collaborate with Kwara State to take decisive action against the perpetrators, who are reportedly hiding in a forest near the Kogi and Ekiti state borders.
He also extended condolences to the families of the victims and called on the National Security Adviser and the Federal Ministry of Education to strengthen efforts on the Safe School Initiative.
“The painful loss of the two students should provoke the office of the National Security Adviser to work with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure the safety of our schools across the country. It is unacceptable to lose children whose only offence was embracing education. Our nation must rise to the occasion to arrest the rising insecurity across the country,” he said.