Hyacinth Alia, governor of Benue, has urged the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) to reschedule examination for the eight candidates of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) kidnapped last Wednesday.
The victims were abducted along the Makurdi-Otukpo road in
Benue state.
On Sunday, troops of the Nigerian army rescued the remaining
victims in a forest at Okere ward in Ohimini LGA of Benue.
Speaking on Sunday at the government house in Makurdi, Alia
said 15 people were kidnapped in the attack, but two later escaped.
According to Punch Newspaper, Alia said 13 others were
rescued in the early hours of Sunday, adding that eight among the victims are
“UTME candidates”.
“Many of the students were travelling to Otukpo. Seven were
regular passengers, and 15 were kidnapped that fateful day. One of the victims
escaped, and another one escaped the following day,” Alia reportedly said.
“Today, all the remaining 13 kidnap victims were rescued by
the security agents with the cooperation of the communities.
“I call on JAMB to look into the case of the eight young
students and reschedule dates for them to write their examination.”
On Friday, the Benue state police command said the abducted
passengers in the Makurdi-bound commercial bus were not UTME candidates.
In a statement, Udeme Edet, the command’s spokesperson, said
reports describing the victims as UTME candidates were “misinformation and
incorrect.”
On Saturday, JAMB also said the abducted travellers were not
UTME candidates.
Fabian Benjamin, the board’s public communications adviser,
said in a statement that those involved had travelled to Makurdi to participate
in an ongoing police recruitment exercise and were returning to Otukpo at the
time of the incident.
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