Police say preliminary investigation proved that the victims were driving out of the college when incident occurred.
Ayomidele Oluwasusi
ENUGU, Nigeria – Gunmen on Thursday abducted three persons in Enugu State College of Health Technology in Oji River Local Government Area of the south-eastern Nigerian state, police said.
The Enugu State Police Command’s spokesman, DSP Daniel Ndukwe, confirmed this in a statement on Saturday.
Ndukwe said that after receiving information alleging an act of abduction around the said college, the Oji River Division of the state police command immediately hastened to the scene, rescuing two victims, while three others are yet to be found.
The police spokesman, however, said that operations are ongoing to locate and rescue them, as well as apprehend the abductors.
Ndukwe said a preliminary investigation proved that the victims were driving out of the college when incident occurred.
He also condemned a viral video which claimed that countless students were kidnapped at the health college, describing it as false and an act of mischief aimed at misleading and creating panic among unsuspecting citizens.
The police spokesman revealed that the Commissioner of Police, CP Kanayo Uzuegbu ordered the operatives to ensure that the abducted victims are found and rescued, while also arresting the perpetrators.
CP Uzuegbu cautioned against mischievous and malicious social media narratives, aimed at creating unwarranted panic and jeopardizing police operational and investigative actions over such incidents.
For more than a decade, civilians in Nigeria have faced multiple security threats and risk of atrocities as result of attacks, kidnappings and extortion by various non-state armed groups.
Since the start of 2024 civilians have faced intensified violence across Nigeria, and near-daily attacks by armed groups resulting in kidnappings and other abuses against civilians.
Armed groups and gangs, including so-called “bandits,” have – for many years – perpetrated widespread atrocities, including murder, rape, kidnapping, organized cattle-rustling and plunder. Armed herdsmen are also destroying vast swaths of farmland, prompting many farmers to abandon their land out of fear of attack.