• Oyebanji visits rescued pupils, teachers at EKSUTH
• Lauds Tinubu, security agencies over their release
After seven days in the den of the kidnappers, pupils and members of staff of Apostolic Faith Group School, Emure-Ekiti, were, yesterday, set free by their abductors.
Those who regained their freedom included five students and three members of staff of the school while the driver, identified as Taye Rasaki, was killed by the dare-devil kidnappers.
Chairman of Emure Local Council of the state, Adebayo Oluwatosin, who confirmed the development, said that the victims were currently in the palace of Elemure of Emure-Ekiti.
Ekiti State Police Command Public Relations Officer (PRO), Sunday Abutu, who also confirmed the development, said: “All victims were rescued today at about 1:30 a.m. but unfortunately, we lost the driver who had reportedly been killed by the abductors.
Meanwhile, the state governor, Biodun Oyebanji, yesterday, expressed gratitude to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the security agencies and Ekiti people for their support on the release of the pupils and their teachers.
The governor, while congratulating the children and their families, expresses profound appreciation to Tinubu for giving specific directives that put the search and rescue mission on top gear.
Oyebanji, who noted the traumatic experience of the children in the kidnappers’ den, directed the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Oyebanji Filani, to take the children to the state’s teaching hospital in Ado-Ekiti for proper medical treatment and post-trauma therapy.
He promised that killers of the two Ekiti State monarchs would be fished out and made to face the law.
However, Oyebanji has visited the rescued pupils and teachers at the Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital, Ado-Ekiti (EKSUTH), where they are receiving treatment.
The governor, who arrived at the hospital a few hours later, had brief interaction with each of the students and their teachers at the Accident and Emergency Ward of the hospital.
He was received by the Commissioner for Health and Human Services, Dr Filani; Chief Medical Director of the hospital, Prof Kayode Olabanji; and a member of the House of Assembly representing Emure Constituency, Mariam Ogunlade and some government officials.
Oyebanji, while congratulating the students and their teachers for regaining freedom from the abductors, urged the medical team at the hospital not to be in a hurry to discharge the students, stressing the need for them to be properly managed as a result of the trauma they must have gone through.
The governor, who praised the resilience of the children and expressed gratitude to God for their safe return, said he remained committed to security of life and property of citizens of the state and would continue to collaborate with relevant security agencies and the traditional institution in the war against criminals.
