Bloody Day As Gunmen Storm School, kill, kidnap 5
The peace of the Osun State College of Technology (OSCOTECH), Esa-Oke was Tuesday deflowered when gunmen invade the school and killed a registry staff, Mr. Olaniyi Temitope, and abducted five others.
This is coming on the heels of confirmation by the police that 16 of their officers were killed in Zamfara State.
In the Osun attack, it was gathered, the hoodlums invaded the school shooting sporadically. After killing Temitope, they took away Mr Olaleye Olalekan of the Business Administration Department, Adeyeoluwa Bankole, the HOD, Civil Engineering Department, Dr Jesuola Ajibola, the Director Ventures, Adenreti Chukwu, the Secretary to the Civil Engineering Department and Rachael Onyinocha Akinboboye of OSCOTECH Microfinance Bank.
The late Temitope, Daily Sun gathered, died on the spot as the hoodlums pumped several bullets into him.
A staff, who prefers anonymity, said a policeman who attempted to rescue the victims was also shot by the hoodlums before they took the captives away.
The institution’s Public Relations Officer, Adewale Oyekanmi, said: “There was an attack on Esa-Oke Road on Tuesday evening by suspected kidnappers after the close of work. They took away some staff of the Osun State College of Technology who are still being held in the bush.”
It was, however, gathered that the kidnappers, believed to be herdsmen, have started demanding ransom.
The Commissioner of Police in the state, Fimihan Adeoye, who confirmed the incident, disclosed that his men are on the trail of the hoodlums to ensure their arrest.
He said the area had been cordoned off, with a view to ensuring that the bandits don’t find any escape route until they were nabbed.
Adeoye, however, said one of his men shot during the attack had been taken to an hospital for treatment.
Similarly, three staff of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Owo, Ondo State have been kidnapped by gunmen. The victims, a medical doctor, a nurse and a record officer, were kidnapped yesterday on their way from Akure, the state capital, to Owo.
A colleague of the FMC victims, in a phone interview with a television station, said the abductors are demanding N50 million ransom.
The source, which pleaded anonymity, said the hospital had been thrown into confusion as a result of the incident.
The spokesperson of the Ondo State Police Command, Femi Joseph, also confirmed the incident, saying the police had commenced investigation into the situation.
Meanwhile, Nigeria Police Force (NPF) headquarters in Abuja said it lost 16 personnel in the attack by bandits in Zamfara State on November 29, not 50 as being speculated by a section of the media. It also said that a Joint Intervention Force on search and rescue found 20 policemen alive.
The police said it would do everything within its powers to ensure that armed banditry, violent crimes and criminalities are brought to an end in Zamfara State.
Force Public Relations Officer, Jimoh Moshood, who confirmed this in a statement issued late Tuesday night, said the Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Ibrahim Idris, had directed that the deceased police officer be given befitting burial, and prompt processing and payment of the life assurance benefits and other entitlements to their families even as he condoled them over the loss.
The police had on November 30, said operatives killed 104 bandits, destroyed 50 operational bases of the bandits and lost one unidentified policeman while 12 others were injured. It also announced the arrest of 85 suspects in the massive operation after a daredevilry ambush by the bandits who had been terrorizing the people of Zamora with their deadly activities. It added that over 500 herds of cattle and 109 sheep were recovered.
But in its latest statement, the police said: “Twenty policemen were found alive while 16 police personnel were found dead after the rescue operations carried out by the Police Joint Intervention Force.”
According to the statement, “Police Special Forces personnel, Counter Terrorism Unit, Police Mobile Force, Federal SARS personnel with three surveillance patrol helicopters have commenced an ongoing operation being strengthened to rout out the remnants of armed bandits and other criminal elements in the caves and mountains in the identified bandits hideouts in some locations in Zamfara State.
“The IGP condoles with the families of the deceased policemen, directs befitting burials for the gallant officers and prompt processing and payments of the life assurance benefits and other entitlements to their families. The IGP is saddened with the death of the gallant officers whom he describes as heroes of the Force, adding that their demise is a great loss to the NPF and our dear Nation, Nigeria. The supreme price they paid for the security and safety of the country will not be in vain.
“The NPF, despite this unfortunate death of the 16 police personnel, will not relent in ensuring that armed banditry, other violent crimes and criminalities are brought to the end in Zamfara State. Members of the public with any information or in distress in any part of the state should call the following Police Joint Intervention Control centre.”
In another development, no fewer than five persons have been confined dead in an auto crash that involved 83 supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Sokoto State. The victims, according to reports, were returning from the party’s presidential zonal campaign held in Sokoto on Monday.
A witness said the accident occurred when the truck conveying the party supporters lost control, veered off the road and crashed into the bush. The victims were mainly those mobilised from Isa Local Government Area of the state to attend the zonal rally in the state capital.
“Five persons lost their lives, 14 critically injured, 49 with minor injures and only seven were unhurt. In short, out of 83 involved in the accident only seven were unhurt,” he said.
Alhaji Aminu Abdulahi, Director of Press to the Deputy Governor of the state, Hon. Maniru Muhammad Dan’iya, confirmed the accident in a statement made available to journalists in Sokoto.
He stated that the deputy governor had traveled to Bargaja village to console the families of the deceased.
He noted that the deputy governor described their demise as tragic and a great loss to their families, local government and the entire state. “He prayed Allah to grant them Aljannar firdaushi and the fortitude to bear the lost,” he said.
All Comments