Gunmen suspected to be herdsmen on Wednesday, April 16, 2025, attacked a bus conveying students from Rivers State University and Ignatius Ajuru University of Education along the Benin-Ore expressway, abducting 10 students and shooting two others.

The students, who are members of the Seventh Day Adventist Church Campus Fellowship, were travelling from their Rivers State base ?to Babcock University, Remo, Ogun State, for their annual Easter Convention when their journey turned into a nightmare,? said a SaharaReporters report.

The portal quoted a source as describing the ambush as traumatic, accusing security forces of failing to protect road users despite rising cases of abductions along the highway.

?University students from my state university and a sister university students in my state were kidnapped and some shot along Ore Road while on their way, heading to Babcock University, Ogun State, today for their normal annual Easter Student Convention,? the source said.

?These students turned out to be my Fellowship Students, National Association of Adventist Students (NAAS), and unfortunately, for me, some of my undergraduate friends and relatives were on this bus,? the source added.

SaharaReporters quoted a source as saying that some students were still in the custody of the kidnappers, while others had managed to flee and were wandering through the bush in search of safety.

?According to the source, the attackers opened fire on the bus, sparking chaos and panic. While several students escaped into the bush, two were shot. One of the victims, who sustained a gunshot wound to the back, is currently fighting for his life at an undisclosed hospital after undergoing emergency surgery to remove the bullet,? the report said.

It disclosed that one of the pictures seen by the portal shows health workers tending to the wound of the student shot in the back.

?He's currently struggling even to survive after they removed the bullet this night, from what the doctor told me a few minutes ago. I saw people killed by herdsmen a few weeks ago along the ShopRite axis, Federal Secretariat bus stop. And I wept,? the source said.

The attackers have since contacted the families of the kidnapped students, demanding a ransom of N15 million for their release, the report said.

It quoted the source as saying: ?They are demanding N15 million for those under their captivity. It happened. Some were even shot at and sustained lifetime injuries. And some managed to escape.?

The portal said that all efforts to get the reaction of the Ondo State Police Command proved abortive. ?The Command Spokesperson, Odunlami Ibukun, did not pick up repeated calls, and she has yet to respond to a follow-up message,? it said.

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