After seven days in captivity, pupils and staff of Apostolic Faith Group School, Emure have been freed by abductors.

Those who regained their freedom include five students and three staff of the school while the driver identified as Taye Rasaki was killed by the dare-devil kidnappers.

The gunmen on Monday ambushed a bus conveying the schoolchildren and staff of the school back to their homes at Eporo on the road and whisked nine among the occupants away, leaving the bus on the road.

The kidnappers were said to have reach out to the families of the abducted pupils and demanded N100m ransom for each of the nine persons in their den.

The abductors, however, on Thursday reduced the ransom to N15m for all the abductees with threat to kill the victims if the money was not paid on time.

However, on Sunday morning, reprieve came their way as the bandits set them free.

The Chairman of Emure Council Area of Ekiti State, Hon. Adebayo Oluwatosin, who confirmed the development, said said the victims are in the palace of Elemure of Emure Ekiti.

He added that the driver was killed while other eight regained their freedom.

Confirming the development, Ekiti PoliceCommand Public Relation Officer, Sunday Abutu said: “All victims were rescued today at about 1:30am but unfortunately, we lost the driver who was unexpectedly killed by the abductors.” (The Nation)