Gunmen have abducted a school principal, a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc official and four students while they were writing the ongoing NECO examination at Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Kogi State.
The attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. on Tuesday at the school in Dekina Local Government Area, according to the Kogi State Police Command.
Police spokesperson, ASP Salisu Oyiza, said the armed men stormed the school during the examination and whisked away the victims.
“Four students, the school principal and one NECO ad hoc staff member were abducted during the incident,” she said in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Oyiza said security operatives, comprising the police and other agencies, immediately launched a coordinated search-and-rescue operation.
She disclosed that one of the abducted students had since been rescued, while efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and arrest those responsible for the attack.
The spokesperson added that the Commissioner of Police in Kogi State, Naziru Kankarofi, alongside the Brigade Commander and the state’s Security Adviser, was heading to the community to assess the situation firsthand.
She said the command would issue a more detailed statement after receiving verified information from the scene.
In a separate incident, the police also confirmed that a corpse abducted by suspected bandits along the Ochadamu-Ejule Expressway had been recovered.
The deceased, identified as Augustine Ikwue, an official of the Federal Road Safety Corps (FRSC), had died in Lokoja and was being transported to Otukpo in Benue State for burial when armed men attacked the vehicle conveying his remains.
According to Oyiza, the attackers kidnapped the occupants and fled into the bush after abandoning the vehicle and the casket.
She said police operatives, working with the military, the Vigilante Group of Nigeria and community policing teams, launched a bush-combing operation that led to the recovery of the vehicle and the casket.
The corpse has since been deposited at the Elemona Mortuary in Ejule.
Police said efforts are continuing to rescue the kidnapped victims and track down those behind the attack.
