Chidi Samuel
Ogun state Government has vowed to do everything possible to secure the release of the five kidnapped students and three officials of Nigerian-Turkish International School in Isheri, Ogun State, kidnapped on Friday by unknown persons and that steps were being taken to provide security and ensure the security of the remaining staffs and students.
The deputy governor, Mrs. Onanuga,made the disclosure while addressing parents and students of the institution at the school premises.She appealed for calm and prayers, even as she appealed to parents not to evacuate the students.
According to her, “Our government has put necessary security measure in place for the rescue of the abductees. Ogun State is already in action. Let me reassure you that we are going to rescue the victims soon. Federal Government is aware of this, we have just got in contact with Abuja.”
The Deputy Governors appeal did not however, stop many parents from evacuating their children from the school early Saturday.
Conducting the Deputy Governor and her entourage round the school premises, Yunus Emre Dogan, the Principal of the school, said the heavily armed kidnappers gained entrance into the compound through a fence wall at about 9.30 p.m on Friday by digging a portion of the fence near a swamp and went straight to the female hostels, where they seized the victims, which included a hostel mistress, a cook, a teacher and five students.
The Deputy governor was accompanied by Secretary to State Government, Taiwo Adeoluwa; Commissioner for Youths and Sports, Afolabi Afuape; Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Dayo Adeneye; Special Adviser to the Governor on Government House Matters, Bayo Adeyemi, and Adejuwon Soyinka, senior special assistant to the governor on media and publicity.
The Assistant Inspector General of Police, Zone 2; Kayode Oluranti, Ogun State commissioner of police; Ahmed Ilyasu, state director, State Security Service; and Commander, Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency, Seni Ogunyemi also visited the School.
The targeting of isolated secondary school has become a soft target for kidnappers in recent times. Last year two secondary schools in Ikorodu and Epe areas of Lagos were targeted and the kidnapped students and their teachers were released after ransom were paid to the abductors. As at the time of filing this report, the abductors of the students were yet to make contact with the school or parents of the students.
