Abuja:

In Nigeria, six children and three teachers, who were held captive by unidentified gunmen, were freed on February 4. The news about the release was confirmed by Mr Adebayo Oluwatosin, the Chairman of Emure Local Government, in a telephonic conversation with journalists. News Agency of Nigeria reported that abductees who belong to Apostolic Faith Church Primary and Secondary School of Emure-Ekiti were released at about 2 am. The children and teachers were kidnapped along with their school bus driver while returning from Eporo-Ekiti on January 29.

Sunday Abutu, the police public relations officer in Ekiti confirmed that the school bus driver Taye Rasaki was killed while in captivity. He said, “Though some arrests have been made in the recent past, our operations shall continue as we want to ensure that the perpetrators are apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law.” But he did not confirm if any ransom was paid for the release.

The kidnappers had initially demanded a ransom of N100 Million for the release which they later reduced to N15 Million.

The governor of Ekiti state Biodun Oyebanji expressed his gratitude towards President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the security agencies, and the people whose support facilitated the timely release of the abductees of the apostolic school in Emuru Ekiti. He informed that the “victims are now receiving appropriate medical treatment at the State Teaching Hospital in Ado Ekiti.”

“We remain committed to working with our security agencies and the traditional institution to keep our people safe and to prevent marauders from breaching the hard-earned peace in our dear state,” he added. Nigerian Catholic Bishops, upon expressing their concern about the occurrence of the unfortunate event, warned that Nigeria is fast becoming a
“hostile, killing field.”

“Any remedy now is even already too late for many Nigerians who have lost their lives to terrorists, hunger, kidnapping, and sundry disasters,” said the church leaders.

The Vatican’s news agency Agenzia Fides noted in their report, “According to reports in the Nigerian press, a total of 3,620 people were kidnapped in 582 kidnapping cases between July 2022 and June last year. It is estimated that a total of at least 5 billion naira ransoms were requested, of which at least 302 million naira were actually paid.”