The Police in Kogi State have confirmed that two of the 21 students of Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, abducted by bandits on May 9 while preparing for examination, have been killed by their abductors.

The State Police Commissioner, Bethrand Onuoha, who gave the confirmation while addressing a press conference in Lokoja on Sunday, described the killing by their abductors as very unfortunate, adding that the operatives police had made efforts to rescue the kidnapped students unharmed.

Onuoha, who did not provide the details of how the students were killed, however, assured that security operatives are on the trail of the abductors to bring them to justice.

At a separate press parley on Sunday, a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO), Education For All (E4A), condemned the killing of two students in spite of ongoing negotiations with the parents to pay ransom for their release.

The Publicity Secretary of the NGO, Malam Nasir Ibrahim, said the group described the killing as the height of callousness.

Ibrahim noted that the intent of the kidnappers was to scare young people from going to school in the State, a situation he described as very 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,” Ibrahim said.

“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.”

“The painful loss of the two students should provoke the office of the National Security Adviser to work with the Federal Ministry of Education to ensure the safety of our schools across the country.

“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 added.

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