After weeks in captivity, eight students of Kogi State Government-owned Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH) were finally rescued. Two unfortunately died in captivity. YEKINI JIMOH gives an account of how these students, who were kidnapped on their way for tutorials for an upcoming examination, were eventually rescued.

Gun-wielding kidnappers on May 9 at about 8pm invaded the Osara campus of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH) and abducted an unspecified number of students.

The students were said to be attending a tutorial class in preparation for their first semester examination when the kidnappers swooped on them.

“I was shocked when I learnt the old anthem has been brought back”

As of May 17, security agencies were able to rescue 21 of them. However, last week, the police and the university authorities announced that the two of the students had died in captivity.

They were James Michael Anajuwe, a 100-level Information Technology student and Musa Hussein, a 100-level Software Engineering student of the university. They were reportedly killed at the kidnappers’ hideout in Kwara State.

Their bodies were dumped in a bush between Okunran and Okoloke in Yagba West, Kogi West Senatorial District. Their killers had left voice notes on the students’ phones for other parents to listen, threatening to kill more of the hostages.

The management of the institution announced three days of mourning over the two students murdered by the kidnappers.

A statement by Olufunke Hudson (Ms), the registrar of the university stated that: “It is with deep pain that the management of the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara hereby declares three days of mourning over the death of two of our students who were kidnapped on Thursday, May 9 and killed on Saturday, May 25, 2024.

“All activities in the university are to be held low-key from Monday, 27 to Wednesday, May 29, 2024 in memory of our departed students.

“The management shares in the pains of the parents, family, and colleagues of our dearly beloved deceased students, and we use this medium to condole with them.

“We wish to assure the parents, guardians, and the university community that the Kogi State government is making concerted efforts to ensure the safe release of the remaining students from captivity.

“We urge everyone to be calm and maintain the peace as the Visitor, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, is leaving no stone unturned in his efforts at making sure that the students are released safely.”

This development sparked fresh outrage within and outside the state and prompted Governor Usman Ododo and the Commissioner of Police, Kogi State Command, Bertrand Onuoha, to vow to do everything to go after the perpetrators.

The rescue operation

In a combination of land and air operations, troops from the joint security task force from Kogi and neighbouring states raided the camps of kidnappers in the forests of Yagba West Local Government Area of Kogi State. Yagba West shares boundaries with Kwara, Ekiti and parts of Niger States.

The joint security task force consisting of the Nigerian Army, Nigeria Police, Department of State Services (DSS), Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), vigilantes and local hunters spent two weeks of operation in the forests, Nigerian Tribune gathered.

In their bid to flush out the criminals from their various hideouts, eyewitnesses gave account of sustained land and air operations with daily helicopter patrols, amid heavy military personnel on the ground numbering about 200.

While there were no official details, the operation has been acclaimed by the locals to be largely successful.

Following intelligence reports, forests in the border towns with Kwara, Ekiti and Niger States believed to have long served as the negotiation camps for kidnappers, came under intense bombardment by the joint forces, while several arrests were reportedly made. Among those arrested were the ring leaders of the kidnap gang.

Nigerian Tribune gathered that the decision to confront the criminals was not unconnected to serial cases of kidnapping, banditry and robbery across Kogi State.

The governments of Kogi, Kwara, and Ekiti states, in conjunction with the office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), reportedly mobilised a joint force consisting of conventional security operatives, vigilantes and local hunters from across the three neighbouring states for the “total clean up” of the forests.

The GOC, 2 Division, Nigerian Army, Major-General Bamidele Alabi, was also said to be on the ground in Yagba West, during the second week of operation.

It was also gathered that the senator representing Kogi West, Sunday Karimi, joined in the efforts by making provisions for the supply of meals to the troops who continued to lay siege to the criminals’ hideouts. “Meals were conveyed via helicopter to the troops in the forest,” revealed a source who did not want his name in print.

Eventually on Sunday, the Kogi State Government announced the rescue of the eight remaining kidnapped students.

The eight students, comprising five female and three male students are: Anate Hanifat Oyiza ‘F’ 19yrs; Damisa Rasidat Ometere ‘F’ 17yrs; Ahmed Tijani Fatimah (F) 21yrs; Obakachi Mashkurah Onyioyiza ‘F’ 17yrs; Oloruntoba Blessing Kemisola ‘F’ 23yrs; Omojo Godwin ‘M’ 19yrs; Abdulrafiu Abdulmakik Enesi ‘M’ 19yrs and Musa Oseni ‘M’ 19yrs.

The rescue of the students was also confirmed by the Kwara State Police Command, which said that the students were rescued in a forest in the Ifelodun Local Government Area of Kwara State.

The Kwara police, however, lambasted soldiers for forcefully taking away the rescued students.

“The students were rescued and taken to the Divisional Police Headquarters in Oro-Ago in Kwara State in preparation for their onward movement to receive medical attention at the state capital, Ilorin. However, on arrival at the station, the students appeared weak and in dirty clothes. Police operatives provided presentable clothes and breakfast.

“While making preparations for their onward movement to Ilorin, soldiers in a convoy with three operational vehicles stormed Oro-Ago police station, overpowered the police operatives and forcefully took custody of the rescued students without proper handing over.

“This act is disrespectful to the force; totally unacceptable. The behaviour of the soldiers is likened to an act unbecoming of law enforcers. And necessary actions will be taken to report their conduct to the higher authorities,” the Kwara police command said in a statement.

The Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, in a statement, confirmed that the eight students were those left in the kidnappers’ den after 21 were earlier rescued while two of them were killed.

Kogi State governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, received the eight students at the headquarters of the Nigerian Army in Abuja. They were given psychological evaluation and confirmed fit to be reunited with their families.

In his remarks at the brief ceremony in the conference room of the Nigerian Army Headquarters, Ododo expressed appreciation to President Bola Tinubu for leading from the front in the fight against terrorism and other violent crimes in Nigeria.

The governor commended the National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, the leadership of the Nigerian Army, the police, Department of State Services, Civil Defence and the local vigilante service as well as local hunters for the successful operation that led to the safe return of the eight CUSTECH students.

The governor who called for collaboration among state governments and security agencies to tackle insecurity in Nigeria, also praised the effort of Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq of Kwara State for his support and synergy in the joint efforts to wipe out criminals from border communities between Kogi and Kwara states which have become hideouts for criminals in recent months.

While expressing sympathy with the families of two of the abducted students who died in the hands of the abductors, Governor Ododo promised to keep Kogi State unsafe for criminals.

Earlier, the Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, represented by the Deputy Chief of Army Operations, Major General Emmanuel Emeka, noted that the military intervention in the rescue operation was a signal that the Nigerian government will continue to protect citizens of the country in every situation.

He commended the collaboration between the army and other security agencies that led to the safe rescue of the students, assuring that the operation will continue until the perpetrators are apprehended and brought to justice.

The eight CUSTECH students were later handed over to the Vice Chancellor of the University, Professor Abdulrahaman Asipita Salawu, to be reunited with their family members.

Meanwhile, Kogi State Security Adviser, Commodore Jerry Omodara, (rtd) had led a team of visiting representatives of Kogi State government, office of the National Security Adviser (NSA), Army, Police, DSS, hunters and vigilantes to the site of the proposed military formation base in Egbe, Kogi State.

About six months ago, Senator Karimi had performed the ground breaking of the building of the facility in the Kogi and Kwara States border town of Egbe, along Kabba-Egbe-Omuaran-Ilorin federal road. The facility, which is nearing completion is designed to house and enhance the presence of military personnel in the area with a view to boosting national security. When completed, the base will be handed over to the Nigerian Army, Senator Karimi had noted.

The facility consists of a mini office, officer’s mess, two blocks of three-bedroom flats for officers and other ranks and the armoury.

Omodara, during the inspection, expressed the appreciation of the state government to Senator Karimi for his efforts towards the building of the military formation base and the meal support for the joint troops in the forests.

Speaking on behalf of the community, the Emla of Ilemla, Egbe, Oba Rotimi Victor Dada, said: “I can say it (deployment of joint troops) has been a successful operation, so far. Over the years we have been in a kind of dilemma; our farmers could not go to their farms, our wives could not go to the market to buy and sell their products.

“But with this intervention of the state government under His Excellency, Alhaji Usman Ododo and the Federal Government who brought in the military personnel to flush out the kidnappers who have turned our forests to their den, our people can now heave a sigh of relief.

“The military personnel have done very well engaging the bandits and kidnappers terrorising the neighbourhood – I am not permitted to go into details.

“This development, however has further justified the establishment of a military formation base in Egbe, being the border town of Kwara, Ekiti, Kogi and Niger States, a project initiated by the Distinguished Senator Sunday Karimi who has committed a lot of funds to the project.

“I was there in the company of the State Security Adviser, Commodore John Omodara who led a team of representatives of government and security agencies to inspect the project. A Brigadier-General in the team who inspected the project commended the military formation base initiative.”

The monarch said that the mini-base when completed, will not only boost security in the host community but also complement the efforts of the federal and Kogi State governments as well as neighburing as Kwara and Ekiti states towards tackling insecurity in the area.

He noted with concern that the activities of bandits, kidnappers, armed robbers as well as armed herders have affected the flow of trade and economic growth in the entire Yagbaland for several years, including banking services as most of the banks were forced to close their branches in the area due to incessant robbery attacks.

“Due to the many cases of bank robberies, all banks, with the exception of one, have shut down operations in the entire Yagbaland for close to seven years now. We hope that the presence of a military formation base would lead to the increase in the number of personnel deployed to this area. We also hope that this will convince the banks to reopen their branches to customers in Yagba,” he said. (Nigerian Tribune)

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