by Taiwo Jimoh, Kunle Olayeni And Camillus Nnaji


[quote]Two among the kidnappers, who stormed the Nigerian Turkish International College, Isheri, Ogun State, abducting eight females, including two Turkish nationals, have been arrested, said sources.

This was even as police authorities have vowed not to engage in negotiations for payment of ransom with abductors of the students and staff. News also filtered out yesterday that worried and frantic parents have been divided over amount to contribute in order to get their children and wards released.

The two suspects were alleged to have been tracked and arrested at different locations. It was learnt that one of the kidnappers, simply identified as ‘Commander General,’ was arrested in the creek, while the second, whose identity is yet unknown, was arrested in Arogbo area, Ondo State on Monday night.

According to sources, detectives stormed the creek and swooped on Commander General, while he was in bed with two women. The police recovered a big Mikano Generator, which was planted close to the kidnapper’s makeshift house in the creek. The second suspect was arrested in Arogbo, Ondo State, by a decoy team of policemen deployed in the community.

A police source said: “The Special Intelligence Respond Team (IRT), deployed by the Inspector General of Police, Ibrahim Idris, from Abuja, is closing in on the kidnappers and several suspects, including two prime suspects, already in police net.”

In another development, it was gathered that there was a serious disagreement between victims’ parents on the amount to pay for ransom. A source at the school said: “Some parents of the victims were of the opinion that they should pool resources together and pay the kidnappers N15 million for all the victims, while others think they should push for N50 million, to facilitate fast release of the victims.”

When our correspondent visited the school yesterday, mobile policemen were still seen manning strategic locations within the school premises.

The gunmen, numbering about 20, who were armed to the teeth, stormed the school premises around 9:30pm on Friday night, broke the fence and abducted the female students in their hostels along with five non-teaching staff.

Meanwhile, police authorities in Ogun State; have vowed not to engage in negotiations for payment of ransom with the abductors.

This position came against the backdrop of reports that the suspected kidnappers that invaded the school on Friday night had demanded N1.2 billion ransom before releasing the victims.

Speaking on efforts to rescue the victims, the state Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Abimbola Oyeyemi, said the security agencies were close to apprehending the kidnappers.

The image maker said: “We are not leaving any stone unturned to make sure the victims are rescued. The hoodlums will be brought to book. We are very much sure of that. I will not tell you how close we are on that for security reasons.

Very soon, we are going to rescue them. By the time we rescue them, the press will be updated.”

Oyeyemi, however, stressed that the police will not engage in any negotiation with the kidnappers on ransom. His words: “The police will not be party to any discussion on ransom.

We don’t encourage anybody to pay ransom to kidnappers. If you pay such money, you are encouraging them. When they demand for ransom and you don’t pay them, they will no longer see it as a business that is viable. We have been given the mandate to rescue the victims unhurt and to bring the perpetrators to book.

We are working assiduously to achieve this. I will advise that there shouldn’t be anything like negotiation.

We are not party to that and we will not encourage it.” Oyeyemi noted that safety and security of schools should be the business of all Nigerians. He said: “Security is everybody’s business.

It’s not something that we should leave in the hands of the police or the security agencies alone. We should ensure that the lives of pupils are not in danger.

The school must be properly fenced. On top of the fence, there should be barbed wire. If need be, the barbed wires should be electrified, especially schools with boarding facilities. This will protect the school from invasion.

There should be local security men within the school. School proprietors shouldn’t employ the services of aged men to do the job of securing the schools. Agile and able-bodied men should be hired by schools to see to the day-to-day of keeping the schools safe.”

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