A non-governmental organization, Education For All (aka E4A) has disclosed that kidnappers have killed two of the students recently abducted at the Confluence University of Science and Technology, Osara, Kogi State.
The organization urged Kogi State government to partner with Kwara state government to smoke out the killer abductors who are said to be hiding in a forest between the two states.
It would be recalled that gunmen had kidnapped some students numbering 22 in the university as they were preparing for their examinations.
In a statement by E4A, while over 20 of the students were successfully freed by security agents, two of them were said to have been killed.
The statement was made available to newsmen in Lokoja, the Kogi State capital.
The statement, which was signed by the Publicity Secretary of E4A, Nasir Ibrahim, said: “It is sad that the criminals killed two of the students who were not among the 21 rescued through the operation coordinated by the Kogi State Government, though the circumstances of their kidnap and being traced to a forest in Kwara State by security agencies are yet to be ascertained.
“This is sad, callous, and a call for collective action against attackers of educational institutions.
“We are aware that parents of the students were negotiating with the kidnappers which slowed down the offensive on the kidnappers by security agencies so as not to endanger the lives of the captives.
“We were very hopeful and optimistic that they would be released at the end of the negotiations.
“Information reaching us shows that the students allegedly killed were James Michael Anajuwe, a 100-level Information Technology student, and Musa Hussein, a 100-level Software Engineering student of the University.
“They were allegedly killed at the kidnappers’ hideout in Kwara.
“We are broken and shattered that despite the efforts of the parents, NGOs, and the State Government, we still lost these promising students.
“We call on the Kogi State Government to work with its Kwara State counterpart to take decisive action against the perpetrators who are said to be hiding in a forest in Kwara, very close to Kogi and Ekiti States.
“The painful loss of the two students should provoke the office of the National Security Adviser to work with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure the safety of our schools across the country.
“It is unacceptable to lose children whose only offence was embracing education.
“Our nation must rise to the occasion to arrest the rising insecurity across the country.”
