Kidnapped Lagos school children, teachers regain freedom
The four persons who were kidnapped last Thursday by some gunmen at Igbonla Model College, Epe had regained their freedom at about 11pm Tuesday night. They disclosed that they were never assaulted through out the five days they stayed in captivity.
The victims who were taken to the General Hospital, Epe where they were tested and treated at the Emergency Unit of the hospital Tuesday night said they were immediately allowed to be reunited with their families after series of test were conducted and treated.
At the hospital, one of the male victims had allegedly told his father that they were not at anytime assaulted while in the hands of their abductors.
He said to his father: ” We were not assaulted by the kidnappers.They treated us nicely.They did not beat us. We thought they were going to rape the only girl among us , but, suprisingly they did not. They were only interested in the money they intended to collected from our parents.
“When the girl fell sick, they treated her with some herbs and it was because of her that the kidnappers released us on time”.
One of the Victims father, who identified himself as Mr Oluwafemi Adebisi, also corroborated the child’s claims.
He said: “My son Isaac told me the same thing that they were not molested by the kidnappers. But that their fear was that of health challenges and cross firing with the Police.
“I received the kidnap of the victims, including my son with rude shock and since then, my family has been disorganised. I was not staying in Epe. My wife and I relocated to Epe ever since the bad news broke out.
“I thank God when I was called by 12 am today to inform me that the victims have been released. When I arrived the school, I saw my son alive.
“I was not afraid that something sinister may happen to neither Issac nor other victims. I have been praying along side with many other sympathizers and I have the assurance that they would come out alive.God has really done it again for us.
“Let’s not talk of ransom, I did not pay any dime. I don’t know whether anyone paid. I did not pay. My joy is that my son and others are hale and hearty. “I want to thank the State government, the Police and other security agencies for the roles they played while the children and their teachers were in captivity. I want them to provide adequate security for schools within riverine communities”.
A nurse at the Epe General Hospital, said the victims were in the hospital for some medical examination.
She said: “They were brought here by the school authority in company of some policemen for mere medical check-up. Normally, they were examined and cancelled by the Doctor on duty. They were not admitted. They were all brought to the female ward 5 as it was a special case.
However, all efforts to speak with any of the victims were rebuffed as their relatives resisted vehemently.
They claimed that their wards were still being traumatized by the ugly incident.
The Police Public Relations Officer for the State ,Dolapo Badamos,said: “We have been on the trail of the kidnappers ever since the incident happened.The good thing is that ,we were informed on time.We cordoned off every escape routes.There will be no escape for them. We must get them arrested. It was the pressure we gave to the hoodlums that forced them to abandon their mission.
“The abductors released their victims at about 12 am. We have re-united them with their families and their school. They are hale and hearty.We took them to hospital for normal medical examination and they were all treated and left to go home as there was no serious issue”.
Another family source of the victims who spoke on the condition of anonymity said: “We suffered hell when we went to pay NI million for our sick child.The kidnappers after two day of playing hide and seek with us,dropped them off in the bush and gave them description on how to come out to the road.Our joy knew no bounds when we saw our children and their teachers coming out alive. I was deeply involved because our child was described as being ill, but not as ill as we were made to believe”.
Gunmen stormed the Igbonla Model College, Epe, Lagos and abducted six persons, including the school’s Vice Principal and a teacher.
Two of the abducted students later escaped from the grip of their captors with varying degrees of wounds.
This incident came barely a week after a family of six were killed by suspected gunmen at Ikorodu area.
It was also gathered that the gunmen, about 15 in number stormed the school premises at about 8am yesterday through the river in three speed boats.
