Igbonla Kidnap: Lagos Deputy Gov, Adebule

Igbonla Kidnap: Lagos Deputy Gov, Adebule
visits school, says Govt on top of situation
Lagos State Deputy Governor, Dr Idiat Oluranti
Adebule on Thursday visited Igbonla Senior
and Junior Model College in the suburb of Epe
where four students and two teachers were
kidnapped by a gang of suspected Ijaw
militants, just as she assured that government
would work assiduously to ensure prompt
rescue of the victims.
The kidnappers, numbering about seven, had
invaded the school premises at about 8am
when students were having a special session
at the hall and shut sporadically into the air
before kidnapping the victims, which included
a vice principal and head teacher.
Adebule, who was accompanied by top
government functionaries and head of security
agencies to the school, condemned the act,
but pleaded with parents and families of the
victims to cooperate with government and
security agencies in ensuring prompt rescue of
the victims.
While addressing hundreds of parents who had
come to the school to remove their children,
the Deputy Governor said such would not help
the situation as panicking would further
compound the situation.
She said: “It is true that in the last 29 years
that this school was established, we have
never experienced such a thing like this, but
now that it has happened and it is confronting
us, we must come together to find a lasting
solution to it. We, as government, parents, the
school and security agencies, must remain
united to solve this problem.
“I know you are angry, I know you are worried
and I know you are agitated, but we must look
for solution. But I plead for the understanding
of parents in this matter. I know how
traumatic it could be, I know how emotional
the issue we are discussing could be, but the
best we can do is to handle it with care and
with utmost wisdom that God can give us.
“It is God who secures, it is God who protect
and even in other climes where you have
everything, you still have this type of incursion
once in a while, but what we should be talking
about is how can we collectively solve this
problem,” the Deputy Governor said.
She assured that the State Government would
do everything humanly possible to ensure the
rescue of the victims, assuring that a team of
security operatives would stay behind in the
school to secure the students and teachers.
She also revealed that all security agencies
including the Police, Air Force, Navy, the Army
and others have been fully mobilized to
ensure rescue of the victims, just as she
expressed confidence in the success of the
ongoing rescue operation.
On his part, Lagos State Commissioner of
Police, Mr. Fatai Owoseni assured the parents
and families of the victims that the rescue
operation already launched would be the
shortest in the history of the Command.
While soliciting for the support of the parents,
Owoseni said security agencies were already
in custody of useful leads, adding that there
was a strong hope of rescuing the victims.
“All I just want to say for now is that you have
to work with us. What we also need from you
is your prayers. We will seek your
understanding and for now, I will not reveal
much because as we speak, there are agents
of the kidnappers here and they will reveal
whatever we say here to them.
“We have a government in Lagos State that is
ready to go all out and I can assure you that
this will be the shortest rescue operation that
we will carry out. We will do everything we
need to do to secure the release of the
victims,” the CP said.