Gunmen kidnap 3 students of Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi

 

No fewer than three students of the Federal University of Agriculture Makurdi (FUAM), Benue State, were reportedly kidnapped from the campus Sunday night, by unknown gunmen.

The Director of Information, Protocol and Public Relations Unit (IPPR), Mrs Rosemary Waku, made the disclosure on Monday.

“An unconfirmed number of students of FUAM were abducted at gunpoint by unknown persons from the Campus on Sunday 25th April 2021.

“The University has reported the incident to the police and all relevant security agencies.

“The University has not heard anything from the students or their captors since the unfortunate incident took place,” Mrs Waku stated in a statement.

Sources said the three students, whose identities are yet to be released by the institution, were abducted while studying near a lecture hall.

Confirming the development, the Benue State Police Public Relations Officer, DSP Catherine Anene, said the Command had already received a report of the incident.

“Information has been received by the school authority that on April 24, 2021, at about 10:20 pm, some unknown persons came into the school premises and kidnapped three of their students, who were studying close to a lecture theatre.

“We received that information and we are on it. I know that we are very close and we will continue to do our best.

“For now, this is what I have for the media but my advice is that the members of the public should remain calm. We are doing our best to make sure that we get to the root of the matter and also apprehend the perpetrators of the crime.

“I assure parents of the students that the police will do our best to get back their children. They should remain calm and cooperate with us, we will do our best,” Anene said.

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When asked if the kidnappers had made any demands, the PPPRO said, “that is classified information. When the incident happened, we received reports from the school authorities and we are working on it in our own way. We do not need to wait for people to be contacted before we do our job.

“As soon as we received the information, we deployed our teams and they are working both technically and physically. So, we will continue to do our best. We do not have to wait for contacts to be established before we do our work.

“For now, we do not have the identity of the affected students,” she added.

Also confirming the incident, Vice-Chancellor of the institution, Prof. Richard Kimbir, said the school was not sure of the number of students involved assuring that the number of those involved would be ascertained at the end of an ongoing management meeting.

“We are holding a management meeting at the moment and at the end of the meeting we will confirm the number but for now we are sure of two because the kidnappers have made contacts with us,” he said.