Ekiti Kidnap: Students and teachers taken, captors demand N100 million ransom

No fewer than six pupils, three teachers and the driver of a private school bus in Ekiti State were, on Monday night, kidnapped by gunmen suspected to be herdsmen.

They were abducted while returning from Eporo-Ekiti on the school bus.

Their kidnap came barely hours after two monarchs, the Onimojo of Imojo in Oye Local Government Area, Oba Olatunde Olusola, and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti in Ikole Local Government Area, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin were killed by gunmen along Ipao-Oke Ako Road while their colleague, the Alara of Ara Ekiti, Oba Adebayo Fatoba in Ikole Local Government Area, managed to escape.

It was gathered that the kidnapped pupils were students of Apostolic Nursery and Primary School, Emure-Ekiti in Ekiti State.

Kidnappers of Ekiti school children demand N30m ransom.

Abductors of school children contacted the families of their victims, demanding N30 million as ransom to release the five pupils and other victims.

A source close to the family of one of the children said the kidnappers reached out to them yesterday evening, asking for N30 million naira in exchange for the freedom of their victims.

In a related development, the joint operation team of Ekiti State Police Command, Amotekun, OPC, Civil Defence and Local Hunters, also yesterday arrested five suspected kidnappers while in the bush combing operation through Oke-Osun, Ikere/Igbo-Okah to the thick forest around Iju/Ikere boundary.

During interrogation, the suspects, who claimed to be herdsmen, were found with two motorcycles, one cutlass, one jackknife/dagger and four phones.

They include Usman Jelili, Mohammed Bande, Abubakar Aliu, Isah Abdulahi and Suleiman Abdulahi.

On the slain traditional rulers, sources said they were returning from a function in Kogi State when their vehicles ran into the suspected kidnappers who had laid an ambush.

According to sources, as the bandits chased Alara in a bid to kidnap him, the two other monarchs also attempted to escape but were shot by the gunmen.

Chairman of the Ajoni Local Council Development Area, Micheal Ogungbemi, in whose domain the incident took place, said the corpses of the two monarchs had been recovered from the scene and taken to a mortuary.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Ekiti State Students’ Union, FESSU, held a peaceful walk in Ado-Ekiti, seeking the state government’s intervention to rescue the pupils and restore security.

Speaking with journalists in Ado-Ekiti, National President of FESSU, Comrade Abel Adewale Ajibade, described the incident as pathetic.

These children were kidnapped in their bus. This is the major reason we are calling on the security forces, media houses, and the government itself to rescue the pupils and bring them back to their comfort zone. Education is our right and if we cannot study in a peaceful environment anymore, then what is our right?” He queried.