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How gunmen penetrated Lassa community to kidnap students – police
“What happened was that at the very early hours of Monday, a large number of gunmen invaded the Lassa community. Yesterday was the market day of the community, and they disguised themselves and concealed their weapons, snuck into the town and started shooting sporadically into the air.”
These were the exact words with which the Borno State Police Command, gave some details of how the gunmen that carried out the abduction of students sitting for the National Examinations Council (NECO) examinations in Lassa community, were able to penetrate without suspicion.
Nahum Daso, spokesman of the Command, who gave the details on Tuesday, while appearing on The Morning Show, a breakfast programme on ARISE NEWS Television, also revealed how one of the teachers of the school died, while another sustained injuries during the incident.
He told his host: “Yesterday’s event that happened in Borno is quite an unfortunate incident, which had really generated concerns, more so because the victims are students. The incident led to the death of a teacher, and one other teacher was shot.
“We got a report that some students panicked and went missing during the incident. But the troops HADEN KAI coordinating the military operations here in Borno State were able to go into the forest and comb the place.
“They were able to rescue about 10 victims. From the fillers, we don’t have the specific number of how many students were abducted because some students fled to neighbouring communities.
“We hope to get more information today and feed the public. We are yet to reconcile the numbers with the school and parents. We are confident that 10 of them have been rescued so far. Borno’s commissioner of education is moving to the scene and has a headcount to see how many of the students were abducted.”
The details are coming on the heels of an earlier update by the military on how 10 of the students were rescued in a hot pursuit to the terrorists after they struck, adding that the operation to arrest the gunmen had continued.
Mohammed Goni, a Captain and Acting Military Information Officer, Headquarters Joint Task Force North East Operation HADIN KAI, Maiduguri, who had given update on the rescued operation, said in a statement had said that at about 0900 hours (9:00 a.m.) on Monday, 29 June 2026, targeted the Technical Secondary School while the students were writing exams.
Hear him: “Theatre Command scrambled both strike and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) aircrafts from the Air Component of OPHK to support troops mobilised to the area for a coordinated search and rescue operation.
“The troops, with support from the air platforms overhead providing guidance, made contact around DAGGU and after the firefight, the operation has so far resulted in the successful rescue of ten victims, who were unhurt and are currently receiving the necessary care and support, while efforts remain ongoing to rescue the remaining victim and bring the perpetrators to justice.”
The echoes of the drums rolled out to celebrate the rescue of the 44 teachers and students, kidnapped from some schools in Oyo State, after 56 days in the bush, would surely be disrupted abruptly, with the divergent echoes of a fresh abduction, this time coming from Kogi State.
Reports indicate that the gunmen, struck on Tuesday at the Government Secondary School, Odo-Ekina, in Dekina Local Government Area of the state, abducting four students, the school principal and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member.
Authorities of the Kogi State Police Command, who immediately unleashed their operatives in hot pursuit of the abductors, said the attack occurred at about 5:25 p.m. while the students were writing their NECO examination.
Saliu Oyiza Afusat, an Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and spokesman of the command, said a combined team of police personnel and other security agencies has launched a search-and-rescue operation following the incident.
Informing that one of the students was actually rescued immediately, she said efforts were ongoing to secure the release of the remaining victims and apprehend the attackers, adding that Naziru Bello Kankarofi, the state Commissioner of Police, alongside the Brigade Commander and the State Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd), were already on the way to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Oil prices are expected to go down now with the announcement of Donald Trump, US President that he will no longer impose a 20 percent “safe passage” fee on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
The POTUS, hinged his reversal of the decision on the intervention from some Gulf countries, who pleaded with him not to toe the line due to the massive economic impact the decision would make on the region.
Indeed, oil prices had shot up immediately Trump announced the new levy on Monday while declaring the US ‘the guardians of the Hormuz strait,’ a measure which he said was to pay for the cost of guarding the volatile area in order keep supply of oil flowing.
Reports said that Gulf allies of the US worked frantically to get Trump on the phone in time to talk him out of the idea altogether, while a flurry of appeals came from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar.
In response, the POTUS, posting on his Truth Social platform, wrote: “Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States.”
Trump, who said the investments would be “MASSIVE but, at the same time, extraordinarily good for them, and their future,” added that the deals would see factories, plants, and equipment pour into the US at “Historic levels.”
The Gulf nations have committed to invest trillions of dollars in the US, though it remains unclear how much of that they will actually spend over the next several years.
Meanwhile, the US continues to bomb Iran in what appears to be a resumption of active conflict between both countries, despite an ongoing roadmap to end the conflict.
Reports say operatives of the Osun State Police Command, and those of the Department of State Services (DSS) had tracking the trail of Adeniyi Adeyemi, controversial Director General of the Presidential Foreign Intervention Promotion Council (PFIPC), for weeks, before he was eventually pulled out of his hole on Tuesday.
However, the duo, were said to have pulled back after failing to track him through his mobile phones, which he had reportedly switched off for about two days, making it difficult to locate him, leaving the stage for the members of the Police Intelligence Response Team (PI-RT) led by Moses Lohor, a Chief Superintendent of Police (CSP).
Lohor, said to have previously served as the Commander of the Anti-Kidnapping Squad of Osun State, and reported to have been involved in high-profile security operations and controversies, after taken over fielded his men to pick up signals from their well-oiled signal networks.
Regarded by many Osun residents as one of the key security officers who contributed significantly to the peace and stability enjoyed in Ilesa and other parts of the state during his tenure, he was said to have relied on his contacts before his transfer out of the state, said to have raised concerns from the public about the security situation he would be leaving behind.
His exit from the state was said to be hinged on an incident in 2024, in which he allegedly shot one Iyanda Alowonle, then Chairman of Osun State Motor Transport System, in the stomach at the police station in the state prompting an order for his arrest by then Inspector General of Police (IGP).
His effort was said to have paid off when he successfully tracked down the controversial PFIPC, boss, who was seen on Tuesday evening, in a shot video on social media undergoing interrogation, and eventually handed him over to Ibrahim Gotan, Commissioner of Police in the state.
The PUNCH quoted one of the sources as saying: “The arrest (of Adeyemi) took place on Tuesday morning by the IRT squad, who immediately moved him to Abuja. After he was arrested, he was taken to Ibadan and from there to Abuja.”
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