The Abia State government on Thursday said an unknown number of students of Abia State University, Uturu, were abducted by gunmen on Wednesday night.
Abia State Commissioner of Information, John Kalu, said in a statement that the students were taken hostage while travelling on a bus along Okigwe-Uturu Road.
According to a statement by Kalu, “preliminary information available to us indicates that the students were moving in a minivan from Okigwe to Uturu between 7pm – 8pm when they ran into the armed gang who marched them into the nearby forest along with other yet-to-be identified travellers.
“Two of the students managed to escape from the hoodlums while others are still being held at a yet-to-be-identified location.
“We are working with the government of Imo State and relevant security agencies in both states to ensure the rescue of the abducted students and others.
“Members of the public and ABSU community are advised to remain calm as we will spare no resource in ensuring the safety of the victims.
“No criminal operating within our environment will be allowed to escape justice as we take the job of protecting lives and property of Abians and visitors to the State very seriously.”
Mass Kidnap of students is alien in the Southeast region with this being the index case. But it has been a regular occurrence in Northern region of the country.
For example, just yesterday, the remaining 17 of the 37 students of Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka who were abducted on March 11, 2021, were released.
Also, another 23 students and a staff were taken from Greenfield University in Kaduna on April 20.
