The teachers and students of Apostolic Faith Group of Schools in Emure-Ekiti, Ekiti State, who were abducted last week, have regained their freedom.
The kidnapped victims were released by their abductors at approximately 2:00 a.m. on Sunday.
The Chairman of Emure Local Government, Adebayo Oluwatosin confirmed the development.
According to him, the victims were now in the palace of Elemure of Emure Ekiti.
He said the driver was killed while the other eight regained their freedom. Their freedom came after they spent roughly seven days with the abductors.
It is, however, unclear whether the ransom demanded by the kidnappers was paid before the release.
The Ransom
The kidnappers had demanded ₦100 million ransom for the release of the nine victims who were abducted on Monday.
The principal of the secondary section of the school, Boje Olanireti, confirmed the development via an interview on Tuesday.
The abduction of the school children and four staff members occurred when the school bus conveying 25 pupils home after school hours was stopped by gunmen in the Emure community in Ekiti State.
According to Olanireti, the dire incident occurred about a five-minute drive from the school.
The Kidnap
She said: “Immediately, the school closed at 3:00 p.m., and by the time we gathered all the children, it was already 3:30 p.m. It was that time that they moved.
“So, the incident happened between 3:30 p.m. and 4 p.m.
“The school is in a suburb of Emure village, so they were going back home in Eporo.
“The incident occurred just about a five-minute drive from the school to Eporo.
“When the gunmen attacked, the people around heard the gunshots. They came to Emure with motorcycles to inform the people in the school about what happened.
“We immediately reported to the police station at Emure.
“The students were over 25 on the bus when the incident happened.
“When the gunmen attacked them, they shot the tyre of the vehicle and asked the children to come out of the bus.
“They asked all of them to lie down and picked five students and four staff members.
“They, after that, asked others to go”.
Olanireti added that “the five students comprise two from the secondary (school) and three from primary school while the four staff comprise two teachers, one driver and one bus assistant.
“When the parents heard about the incident, they came from Eporo and they have been making frantic efforts by reaching out to some security outfits, including the police and Amotekun.
The Demand
“The security operatives have also been talking to the proprietor of the primary school and he has been giving them information.
“By the time they opened communication, they first called the husband of one of the teachers and demanded ₦10 million for each kidnapped victim.
But when they later called the headmaster, they demanded ₦100 million for all of them.”
A family source at Eporo Ekiti, who preferred anonymity, also confirmed on Tuesday that the kidnappers had contacted the family of one of the children demanding ₦100 million on the victims.
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The source said: “They called the family of one of the school children and they are requesting ₦10 million per victim.
“What we gathered is that there are nine persons kidnapped – five schoolchildren, two teachers, one bus assistant, and a driver.
“The parents are at Eporo. The bus was taking them home after closing.
“It was in the process that the kidnappers struck. None of the families of the abductees can afford the ransom.’’
