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From Emmanuel Adeyemi Lokoja
Two of the abducted students of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, Kogi State, were said to have been killed by their abductors even when negotiations on the payment of ransom were still ongoing with their parents.
The two students killed, it was gathered, were James Michael Anajuwe, a 100 level Information Technology student, and Musa Hussein, a 100 level Software Engineering student of the university.
The State Police Commissioner, Mr Bethrand Onuoha, also confirmed this while speaking with newsmen in Lokoja, yesterday. Onuoha described the killing of the students by their abductors as very unfortunate.
The CP did not, however, give details of the killing, but said the security operatives were on the trail of the abductors to bring them to book.
Bandits invaded the school around 9pm, on May 9, while the students were studying in their classes ahead of their examinations slated for May 13, and abducted some students, after shooting sporadically into the air.
It was gathered that even though security agencies had rescued 21 of the abducted students with the help of local hunters, a few were still in the hands of the abductors.
Meanwhile, a non-governmental organisation (NGO), Education For All (E4A), had condemned the killing of two students in spite of ongoing negotiations with the parents to pay ransom for their release. The Publicity Secretary of the NGO, Malam Nasir Ibrahim, said this in a statement, in Lokoja.
Ibrahim described the killing as the height of callousness, saying the intent of the kidnappers was to scare young people from going to school, which he said was unfortunate.
“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. 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.
“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.
“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 said.
He called on the Kogi government to work with its Kwara counterpart to take a decisive action against the perpetrators who were said to be hiding in a forest in Kwara, very close to Kogi and Ekiti States.
He commiserated with the families of the lost children, urging the 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 added.
