By Our Correspondent in Lokoja.
Suspected kidnappers are said to have stormed the campus of the Kogi state -owned Confluence University of Science and Technology, CUSTECH, Osara.
A student of the institution, who spoke with our correspondent on the condition of anonymity on Friday in Osara said the kidnappers entered the campus at about 8 p.m.on Thursday went to the lecture halls where students were reading for their first semester examination coming up soon.
According to him,the kidnappers and took some students away to unknown destination.
“We are not sure how many students have been kidnapped in the sad development but the where about of some of my colleagues is not known for now,” he lamented.
Efforts by our correspondent to get the reaction of the police Command in Kogi state, from its spokesperson,SP William Ovie Aya,proved abortive.
The issue has dominated social media with people alluding to possible cause(s) of it while others appealing to the kidnappers to release students unhurt.
An eyewitness told Daily Post correspondent that the bandits, who came in their large numbers, entered the school through the bush path and started shooting sporadically.
The local security in the university were said to have engaged the bandits in a gun duel for over 30 minutes.
According to one of the students, who escaped by whiskers, “the hoodlums invaded the school at about 9 pm and went straight to lecture halls where we were having tutorials preparatory for our upcoming first semester exams.
He added that when the shootout subsided, a number of students could not be readily accounted for.
Confirming the incident, the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Abdulraman Asipita, said the situation had been put under control, adding that the police personnel and other security agencies had been mobilized to the institution and the community.
Meanwhile, fear has gripped parents and guardians of the students of the university with some of trooping from Lokoja, Okene and other parts of the state to the institution check their sons and daughters.
The Reporters/ Daily Post.
Edited by Dawud Ahmed.
