Teachers, students abducted in Kebbi, 4 Chinese in Ogun

In Ogun State, the police said gunmen killed an officer and abducted four Chinese workers on the construction site of the Ibadan-Lagos standard gauge railway project.

Commissioner of Police in Kebbi, Mr Adeleke Adeyinka-Bode, said the teachers included four males and one female.

“The number of pupils abducted are not yet known, between me and God. The attack took place around midnight.

“During the crossfire between police and the bandits, some pupils were injured. One police officer was also injured and another one was killed,” he said.

Adeyinka-Bode said the principal was yet to confirm the number of pupils abducted.

“The principal is not in a positive state of mind as I am speaking to you; parents have trooped into the school searching for their children.

“So, the principal cannot make a proper headcount call,” the Commissioner added.

One of the parents who spoke to reporters on the telephone said: “As I am talking to you, my son is in school and I am on my way.”

Spokesman of the Police Command, Nafiu Abubakar, said in a statement that operatives were in hot pursuit of the bandits.

He said a team comprising men of the police mobile force, anti-kidnapping and counter-terrorism units were combing forests, routes and suspected hideouts of the criminals.

According to the statement, Adeyinka-Bode condemned the attack which resulted in the death of a policeman and gunshot injury to one of the pupils.

He assured parents and guardians that the Command was following credible leads and intensifying efforts to track the assailants and ensure the rescue of everyone abducted.

In Ogun, the police said they had dispatched a team of the special tactical unit in forest in Odeda Local Government Area in search of the four Chinese workers.

The expatriates were abducted by gunmen dressed in black caftans, numbering about eight on Wednesday while working on the rail project.

The gunmen invaded the site at Adeaga/Alaagba in Odeda and killed a policeman guarding personnel and the project site before escaping with their captives.

It was learnt that the remains of the policeman were evacuated by a team of police personnel and operatives of the Federal Road Sector Commission (FRSC).

The Baale of Alaagba village, a rustic border community between Ogun and Oyo State, Chief Adekunle Olabamiji, said some residents observed fierce-looking gunmen entering the forest in the direction of the expatriates shortly before the abduction.

He said it was shocking because the railway workers were always guarded by policemen and soldiers.

The kidnappers were said to have seized their victims immediately after disarming the security men and headed for the forest.

Members of the Oodua People’s Congress (OPC) were said to have searched for the kidnappers in the forest but could not find them.

Spokesman of the Police Command, Mr Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the rescue effort was ongoing.