There was panic yesterday as officers of the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) fired tear gas at students of the Federal University of Lafia, Nasarawa, who were protesting against the abduction of their colleagues in the wee hours of Thursday by gunmen suspected to be kidnappers.

According to reports, the kidnappers stormed the varsity community and kidnapped some of the students in their hostels, which angered the students to express their frustration and fear over the rising insecurity in the area.

Efforts by the security agents to disperse the students proved abortive, as many of them sat on the main road, calling on the appropriate authorities to take urgent action on the security situation in the institution.

The president of the varsity’s students’ union, Ibrahim Ismaila, who claimed about seven students were kidnapped said despite efforts, there’s not been a solution to the issue from the school management.

“About seven students were kidnapped, and this is not the first time. The students have engaged with the school management on several occasions to address the issue, but there’s not been a solution. The latest incident ‘triggered’ the students to come out to protest.

“There has not been a word from the kidnappers yet, and we’re waiting for their call. I just spoke to the OC of this division, and he confirmed that some soldiers have been deployed to ensure some security and stability for some time,” Ismaila noted.

Speaking to Vanguard about the incident, the Public Relations Officer of the school, Abubakar Ibrahim, said that an unconfirmed number of students were kidnapped.

His words: “The students protested earlier over the kidnapping of some students in the school. I cannot confirm the number of kidnapped students now, and we’ve not heard any word yet from the suspected kidnappers. The incident didn’t happen within the school or our hostel, but outside the school where the students lived, which is an ‘area of interest’ to the school management.

“We’ve just concluded a meeting with the state government and security officials to ensure that we put the situation under control. There’s a plan to beef up security at the school, but the school alone cannot do this; everyone has to be involved. The government has promised to work with the police to set up a police post around the school.

“This particular situation (kidnapping) is prevalent in this part of the country, but in this place in particular, the rate of occurrence is very low. (Vanguard)