The police command in Kogi state Sunday confirmed the killing of two of the abducted students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara.

The state Police Commissioner, Bethrand Onuoha, said this when he spoke to reporters in Lokoja.

Mr Onuoha described the killing by their abductors as very unfortunate.

The CP, who did not give the details of the killing, said security operatives were on the trail of the abductors to bring them to book.

Abductors invaded the school around 9.00 p.m. on May 9 while the students were studying in their classes ahead of their examinations slated for 13 May. Some students were abducted after shooting sporadically into the air.

Although security agencies had rescued 21 of the abducted students with the help of local hunters, a few were still in the hands of the abductors

Meanwhile, a nongovernmental organisation, Education For All (E4A), had condemned the killing of the two students despite ongoing negotiations with the parents to pay ransom for their release.

Nasir Ibrahim, the spokesperson of the NGO, said this in a statement in Lokoja.

Ibrahim described the killing as the height of callousness.

He said the intent of the kidnappers was to scare young people from going to school which was unfortunate.

“It is sad that the criminals killed two of the students who were not among the 21 rescued through the operation coordinated by the Kogi government.

“Although the circumstances of their kidnap being traced to a forest in Kwara state by security agencies are yet to be ascertained. This is sad, callous and a call for collective action against attackers of educational institutions.

“We are aware that parents of the students were negotiating with the kidnappers which slowed down the offensive on the kidnappers by security agencies so as not to endanger the lives of the captives.

“We were very hopeful and optimistic that they will be released at the end of the negotiations.

“Information reaching us shows that the students allegedly killed were James Michael Anajuwe, a 100-level Information Technology student and Musa Hussein, a 100-level Software Engineering student of the University.

“They were allegedly killed at the kidnappers’ hideout in Kwara.

“We are broken and shattered that despite the efforts of the parents, NGOs and the state government, we still lost these promising students,” he said.

Ibrahim called on the Kogi government to work with its Kwara counterpart to take decisive action against the perpetrators who were said to be hiding in a forest in Kwara, very close to Kogi and Ekiti states.

He commiserated with the families of the lost children and urged the NSA and the Federal Ministry of Education to reinvigorate efforts on the Safe School Initiative.

 “It is unacceptable to lose children whose only offence was embracing education. Our nation must rise to the occasion to arrest the rising insecurity across the country,” he said. (NAN)