From Samson Kukwa-Yanor, Makurdi

The General Manager of Benue Links transport company Dr Alexander Fanafa has confirmed the abduction of 15 passengers, most of them candidates who were due to sit for the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) Examination on Thursday.

The ugly incidence happened at Ikubi, Otukpo local government council on Wednesday night when a Benue Links bus was conveying students from Makurdi to Otukpo to sit for the exam the next day.

Fanafa told The Guardian that the driver of the 18 sitter bus and few of the passengers managed to escape but the kidnappers went away with 15. He also disclosed that the driver was in police custody as he had flouted the company’s rules by embarking on a trip at night.

The Benue Links GM said that there is a subsisting order that non of the company’s vehicles should embark on any trip after 6pm because of the prevailing security situation in the country, particularly in Benue State.

According to the GM JAMB candidates who were desperate to make it to Otukpo that night in order to sit for their exam the next day. So he decided to play a fast one and took his vehicle outside the company’s premises where he loaded the kids and embarked on the journey without the knowledge of the management.

He said that since the journey didn’t follow due process, it was not documented by the company so Benue Links do not have the details of the kidnapped victims other than the fact that most of them were going to sit for JAMB.

The Benue Links GM advised that JAMB should find a way to have candidates sitting for the exam write it within their localities because of the exigencies of the times rather than exposing their candidates, many of whom are still minors, to the dangers of traveling far distances.

“The most painful aspect is that, they have missed their exams and JAMB doesn’t reschedule. Now the kids would be forced to miss a whole session even if they are rescued, which by God’s grace, they will. I feel terrible that this whole thing is caused by our driver, how will the parents be feeling now?”, he lamented.