The Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Kayode Egbetokun, has deployed a police helicopter to Kogi State for the rescue of the kidnapped students of the Confluence State University of Science and Technology in Lokoja.
The deployment was announced in a statement on Thursday by the spokesman for the Kogi State Police Command, William Aya.
In the statement, Aya said the IG “deployed the air component of police security apparatus made up of helicopter crew, specially trained for aerial surveillance, monitoring team as well as Technical Intelligence Unit to Kogi State”.
“The reinforcement is in response to IGP’s unwavering passion about protecting the lives and property of all Nigerians, especially the safety of our children in various schools in the country”, Aya said.
Gun-wielding kidnappers had on the night of last Thursday, 9 May, invaded the Osara campus of Confluence State University of Science and Technology and abducted a yet-to-be-ascertained number of students.
The students were said to be attending a tutorial class in preparation for their first-semester examination when the terrorists swooped on them.
So far, 21 students have been rescued by a combined team of local hunters, state vigilantes, the police, the army and the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC).
The Kogi State police spokesman said on Thursday that an additional seven students were rescued.
“The diligence and indomitable spirit of the combined team led to the rescue of an additional seven victims, bringing the total to 21.
“It is not over until it is over; so we should not rest on our laurels, instead, all hands must be on deck to ensure all are safely rescued and perpetrators brought to deserved justice”.
He said that the Kogi State government as well as the university community were satisfied with the rescue operations so far “and commended the indubitable, unassailable level of cooperation, collaboration and synergy amongst the security agencies, local vigilantes and hunters in the state”.
On Sunday, the state government and the police announced that 14 of the abducted students were rescued.
The police spokesman said the 14 students were rescued after a gun duel with the kidnappers.
In a statement, the Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, also, said the students were “rescued safely by local hunters and other security agents, hours after the executive Governor of the state, His Excellency Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo, visited the institution to assure parents of his commitment to rescuing the students”.
