Two of the abducted students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, Kogi State have been killed by their abductors, while it is recalled that security agencies had rescued 21 of the victims with the help of local hunters.
Penpushing reports that the Kogi State Police Command Commissioner of Police, Bethrand Onuoha confirmed this on Sunday but yet to give details of the killing as at the time of filing this report, however said security operatives were on the trail of the abductors to bring them to book.
The Commissioner described the killing as very unfortunate, while it is recalled that the kidnappers on May 9, 2024 invaded the school at about 9.00 p.m. while the students were studying in their classes ahead of their examinations slated for May 13, 2024 and forcefully taken some students after shooting sporadically into the air.
Penpushing further reports that a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Education For All (E4A), in reaction condemned the killing of the two students despite ongoing negotiations with the parents to pay ransom for their release.
The spokesperson of the Non-Governmental Organisation(NGO), Nasir Ibrahim this in a statement described the killing as the height of callousness, pointing out that the intent of the kidnappers was to scare young people from going to school.
“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 Government. Although the circumstances of their kidnap and being traced to a forest in Kwara State by security agencies are yet to be ascertained. This is sad, callous and a call for collective action against attackers of educational institutions’, the statement reads.
‘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 very hopeful and optimistic that they will be released at the end of the negotiations’, he added.
‘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, Ibrahim stated.
“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 wrote
Penpushing also reports that the statement called on the Kogi state government to work with its Kwara State counterpart to take decisive action against the perpetrators, who were said to be hiding in a forest in Kwara, very close to Kogi and Ekiti States.
The Non-Governmental Organisation(NGO), however, commiserated with the families of the lost children, urging the National Security Adviser(NSA) and the Federal Ministry of Education to reinvigorate 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.
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