An unspecified number of school children have been reportedly kidnapped in Emure Local Government Area of Ekiti State, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.
The incident came about at the same time when gunmen suspected to be kidnappers attempted to kidnap three Ekiti traditional rulers but later killed two of them.
One of the traditional rulers was said to have escaped the scene mysteriously.
Gov. Biodun Oyebanji, while confirming the abduction of the children on Tuesday, promised to deploy all the apparatus possible to unearth the criminals responsible and bring them to justice.
NAN reports that the school, Apostolic Faith Nursery/Primary School, situated in Emure-Ekiti, had its school bus conveying the pupils, attacked in the evening on Monday.
Local sources who spoke to NAN on the incident said the bus was at the neighbouring Eporo Ekiti town boundary when the incident happened.
Reacting, Oyebanji, through Mr Yinka Oyebode, his Special Adviser on Media and Strategy, urged for calmness, saying the state government would do everything humanly possible to rescue the pupils.
He urged citizens of the state not to despair over the kidnapping of the pupils and their teachers, assuring that efforts were on to get them rescued.
The governor’s statement also clarified that some pupils of the private school in Emure-Ekiti, along with their teachers, and the bus driver, were abducted while returning to Eporo-Ekiti, Monday evening.
The governor, who described the kidnapping of the pupils as callous and unacceptable, said nothing would be spared in the efforts to rescue them.
He assured that security agencies in the state were already on the trail of the abductors, with a mandate to bring the pupils and their teachers back safely.
He added that security was being stepped up across the state with a view to flushing out criminal elements from their hideouts.
While calling on the citizens to remain calm and vigilant, he urged them to cooperate with security agencies, by making available relevant information to the authorities.
The police PPRO in the state, DSP Sunday Abutu, could not comment on the matter as he was engaged in an emergency security meeting with Gov. Oyebanji over the abduction.
The governor had engaged all security apparatuses in the state in an emergency meeting in response to the unfortunate situation.
