At the last count, 21 kidnapped students of the Confluence State University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH) in Lokoja, Kogi State, had been rescued after the multiple abduction that recently occurred at the institution. Gun-wielding terrorists had on May 9 stormed the Osara campus of the institution and abducted students who were said to be in the lecture halls at late hour, studying in preparation for their first semester examination.

Kogi State Police Command late last week said seven more students were rescued to make a total of 21 students pried loose from the kidnappers’ hold. These were in addition to 14 students rescued penultimate weekend. Command spokesperson Williams Ovye-Aya, a Superintendent of Police, said the Inspector-General of Police Kayode Egbetokun had deployed an helicopter and aerial surveillance operatives to bolster rescue operations led by the state commissioner of police Bethrand Onuoha. He had earlier said the students were rescued following gun duels with the kidnappers.

Ovye-Ara spoke against the backdrop of reports by Kogi State Government that four more students were being sought going by its records. Commissioner for Information and Communications Kingsley Fanwo, in a statement, said all rescued students had been reunited with their families. He stated that local vigilance operatives and regular security personnel engaged the kidnappers in a shootout to effect the rescue of the abductees, adding that the kidnappers “succumbed to superior firepower and escaped with gunshot wounds, leaving the kidnapped students who ran in different directions to avoid being caught up in the fire exchange.” According to him, a local hunter and a Department of State Services (DSS) operative sustained injuries in the shootout and were receiving medical attention.

When the terrorists struck on the night of May 9, they reportedly accessed the institution through the surrounding bush, went into three lecture halls where students were studying for their upcoming examinations and began shooting in the air to scare them, following which an uncertain number of students were herded off into captivity. In a statement on the heels of that incident, the Kogi State government pledged safe return of the abducted students, adding that it had “activated the security architecture to track the kidnappers and ensure the abducted students are rescued and the abductors apprehended.” The uncertainty of the toll of abductees was underlined by the government’s claim that nine students were affected.

Upon his visit to the institution soon after the incident, Kogi State Governor Usman Ododo alleged sabotage. He said the institution was equipped with close circuit television (CCTV) cameras in all the classrooms and a campus perimeter fence, but those cameras were turned off at the time the terrorists struck. “We are prepared to protect the students, and that is why we allowed them to stay on the campus. We installed CCTV cameras in all the classrooms and the entire perimeter of the university campus. Yet, on the day of the attack, our investigation so far revealed that all the cameras were switched off. This can only be attributed to sabotage by internal collaborators,” the governor said as he was taken round the campus by CUSTECH Vice-Chancellor, Professor Abdulrahman Asipita. “Our security agencies are on their heels and investigation is ongoing. All our students shall return safely and the perpetrators shall be brought to book,” he added.

Well, the Kogi State government and the police have their job clearly cut out and they can’t afford not to deliver. Students yet remaining in captivity must all be rescued alive, and as much as possible without hurt. But the kidnappers and their collaborators must as well be unfailingly tackled down and brought to justice. Whoever it was that turned the CCTV cameras off in CUSTECH is / are integral to the university’s security system and shouldn’t be too difficult to track down. It isn’t as if the whole university needs to be turned inside out to ferret out such persons. It is also instructive that the internal collaborators were in active contact with the terrorists outside, such that they knew when the terrorists were coming and prepared the way for their evil exploit. If such internal collaborators are identified, it could be just a short stop from unmasking much of the terrorist network operating in Kogi State and adjoining areas.

Also, the government, in conjunction with the police must not fail to apprehend the terrorists themselves and bring them to justice as vowed.

A major way of terminating the menace of insecurity is deterrence as entailed in apprehending culprits. That is a duty government owes law-abiding citizens.

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