Tag: Ekiti pupils

Abductors have freed pupils and teachers of Apostolic Faith Group School, Emure after seven days in captivity.

Those freed include five students and three teachers while the kidnappers killed the driver identified as Taye Rasaki.

The gunmen on Monday ambushed a bus conveying the pupils and teachers back to their homes at Eporo and whisked nine away, leaving the bus on the road.

The kidnappers were said to have demanded N100m ransom for each of the nine persons in their den.

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

In the early hours of Sunday, 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 the victims are in the palace of Elemure of Emure Ekiti.

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

Confirming the development, Ekiti Police Command Public Relation Officer, Sunday Abutu said: “All victims were rescued today around 1:30am but we lost the driver who was unexpectedly killed by the abductors.”

• Adeboye: Fire of God will consume those attacking traditional rulers

Parents and relatives of the kidnapped pupils and staff of Apostolic Faith Group of School, Emure-Ekiti have appealed to Ekiti State Governments to come to their aid to rescue the victims.

General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Pastor Enoch Adeboye, rained the fire of God on the assassins of Ekiti traditional rulers on Friday night.

The gunmen had 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 reached out to the families of the abducted pupils and demanded N100m ransom for each of the nine persons held captive in their den.

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

But, the embattled parents on Saturday while receiving representatives of the Ekiti State government expressed fears over the threat by the kidnappers that if they failed to pay the ransom on time they would kill their children.

Mr. Adebisi Jegede, whose wife and 12-year-old son are in the kidnappers’ den said that the kidnappers had promised not to accept anything less than N15m as ransom.

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Jegede, who said that the parents could see the efforts of individuals, and communities said, “With help here and there, we have realized N7m, we begged the kidnappers to accept N7m, but they refused. We are still looking for a sum of N8 million for it to be completed so that we can rescue these people.

“Whenever the kidnappers contact us on the phone, they will be hitting the people with them so that we can hear their cries and feel their pains and take the money to them on time. We need help because the kidnappers told us that they will not release our people if the money is less than N15m.

 “We want the government to please remedy this situation for the safety of our children and wives.”

Mr. Oluwadare Oniya, father of the abducted nine-year-old girl, said,“We plead with the government to help us today so that these people can rejoin us today. There is a problem, let us focus first on how the children can be released, after that the government knows what can be done to arrest the perpetrators.

“My child there is nine years old, with that age, you can imagine the situation she will be in because when we talk with the abducted persons, they tell us that the kidnappers don’t give them food or water. It is going to be a week now. We have tried, but our best appeared not up to what the kidnappers want”.

Also, Pastor Clement Adebisi, who was anxious over his wife, said, “We are appealing to the government to come to our aid so that we can rescue the kidnapped persons today (Saturday). We are getting worried about the condition of the children.

“We plead with the government to come to our aid. We have offered all that we could raise, but they said it was not enough, and insisted on N15m. That is why we want the government to come to our aid so that they can be released today,” he said.

Addressing the embattled parents and families, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Special Interest Groups, Princess Toyin Agbaje-Malomo assured the parents that their loved ones would soon be rescued to rejoin them.

Agbaje-Malomo said, “You are not alone, we are together in it. The governor is assiduously working on it so that our r people in captivity will be rescued to rejoin families and loved ones.

“The governor is with you, he feels your pains. He has asked me to assure you that based on ongoing efforts, all of them will be returned to you safely in no time. That is the assurance I am here to relay to you today,” she added.

Adeboye: Fire of God will consume those attacking traditional rulers

Pastor Enoch Adeboye declared that peace would elude anybody attempting to meddle with the nation’s monarchy.

“The fire of God will consume all those trying to mess around with our traditional rulers,” the Pentecostal preacher declared during the church’s monthly Holy Ghost Service programme tagged: ‘From The Mountain Top 2’.

“Because as far as God is concerned, traditional rulers are anointed,” Adeboye said.

Two prominent monarchs in Ekiti, Oba David Ogunsola of Esun-Ekiti and Oba Olatunde Olusola of Imojo-Ekiti, were assassinated on Monday while returning from a meeting in Irele-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

Some pupils and teachers were also abducted in the interconnected attacks.

Security forces, including the police, have sent an armoured vehicle and a helicopter to Ekiti and promised to apprehend those responsible.

Nigerians are still calling for prompt justice and a stop to the pandemic of kidnappings and killings in the nation.

• Ekiti pupil’s dad recounts

• Police, Amotekun begin manhunt

“I had the cry of my boy, as he was being beaten, when his abductors spoke to me on the telephone,” father of 13-year-old Ogoolami Jegede, said yesterday.

Mr. Adebisi Jegede sounded helpless when he spoke to our reporter in Ado-Ekiti on Monday’s abduction of his son and wife.

They are among the 10 people made up six pupils, three teachers and the driver of the bus conveying them from their school, Apostolic Faith Church Primary and Secondary School, Emure-Ekiti. They were kidnapped at Akeye, a village between Eporo and Emure.

Mr. Jegede expressed concern about the health of his wife Esther, 40, son, and others in the kidnappers’ den, having being in the tick forest without food and shelter for three days.

He said he was trumatised and tired because he has no means of raising N20 million demanded on his wife and son.

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The abductors made N100 million demand on the 10 abducted people.

Jegede, also a teacher, said: “This is the darkest moment of my life. I’m really perplexed and confused.  I do not know what  to do because I have no one to help, except God. I have not received any penny even though people, including my church, have promised but we have not seen anything.

“What my wife and son are facing in the hands of the kidnappers is too much for them to bear. When they call on Tuesday around 2pm, I could hear the cries of my liitle Ogoolami and when they gave the phone to him and later my wife, I could imagine what the duo were facing through their voices.

“The kidnappers even threatened to kill them if I don’t bring the money. But I was just pleading”.

He added: “The present update as at this evening is that they requested for N10m for each of the victims. This morning, I expected that they would call, but they have not called up till this moment.  We have been to Emure to see the king and the school authority this morning (yesterday).  They told us to go and be looking for money. That’s is the update. No more progress.

“I’m appealing to the state government to come to our rescue because there is no how I can raise that kind of money. We are pleading that the federal and state governments should assist us to rescue them”.

 Efforts by the people of Eporo, a rustic Ekiti town in Emure Local Government Area, to  secure the release of abducted pupils, teachers and the driver began yesterday.

Residents launched a crowd funding to raise ransom for the abductees, whose kidnap on Monday sent the rural community into panic.

 The incident occurred around 3:55pm on the same day two traditional rulers – Onimojo of Imojo, Oba Olusola Olatunji and the Elesun of Esun Ekiti, Oba Babatunde Ogunsakin – were killed by gunmen while returning from a meeting at Ogbe, a neighboring town in Yagbawest Local Government Area of Kogi State.

 Founded in September, 2007, the Apostolic Faith Church Primary and Secondary School, Emure-Ekiti operates day and boarding systems, with hundreds of pupils.

 The school has made Emure a centre for educational tourism because it has pupils from Kogi, Ondo, Kwara, Edo, Osun among other states.

 When our reporter got to the school yesterday,  it was under lock and key.

 Former Chairman of Emure Local Government, Olubayode Okeya said  over  N470,000 had been raised by the community

 He  explained that the  donation was at the behest of the head of the community, who pleaded with the people to support the families of the abductees.

 Okeye said: “Through the  efforts of the  Baale and leaders in the community, we decided to call for emergency meeting this morning. We  appealed to people to be dropping money and individuals started dropping the little they have. So far so good, we have been able to raised a little above N470,000.

“We would still continue the fundraising tomorrow. If the government can come to our aid, we would be happy. At least, we are making our efforts to see what we can do to raise reasonable amount of money”.

 “Our appeal to the federal and state governments is to come to our aid and assist us. They should think about the small children. The government should think about their lives and what they are going through for the past 72hrs inside the thick forest in this cold weather”.

Our reporter who visited the community observed that the distance between the spot where the victims were kidnapped and the Divisional Police Station in the community is less than five minutes.

 Some residents living along Eporo road where the students were kidnapped have been relocating to safer places within Emure for fear of the unknown.

The incident has also forced other private schools in Emure  to shut down and parents have stormed the school to pick their children in the boarding house.

The school gateman said the community was enveloped in anxiety because the abductees have not been released.

He said: “The victims are still in the captivity. The kidnappers have been engaging the parents and families of the abductees as well as management of the school in discussion on ransom.”

The school Principal, Mr Alaba Owolabi, confirmed the ransom demand.

Police, Amotekun local hunters launch manhunt

The combined security operatives of the Police, Army, Amotekun Corps and local hunters have launched a manhunt for the kidnappers of the schoolchildren, according to the Special Adviser to the Governor on Security,  Brig Gen. Ebenezer Ogundana.

Ogundana said Governor Biodun Oyebanji had ordered the deployment of security agents to the forests within and beyond Emure with the mandate to rescue the victims unhurt and arrest the kidnappers.

He said: “We are trying as much as possible to get those children out and at the same time, we don’t want anyone of them to be hurt. And so, while we were on the trail of the criminals, at the same time, we are mindful of the lives of those children and their teachers. That is why we are being tactical about the whole issue”.

“We have already mobilised the security agents, including the Amotekun and local hunters. We are partnering with Ondo State  because that place is closer to the Sunshine State.  We would ensure the children are rescued unhurt.

When asked if the state government will be paying the N100m ransom to secure the release of the abductees, the special adviser, said “the state govt is not aware of any ransom demand.”