Kidnap: Kogi lawmakers urge Gov Ododo to secure tertiary institutions in state

The Kogi State House of Assembly has urged Governor Usman Ododo to beef up security around all Tertiary Institutions in the state to avert the kidnap of students by gunmen.

The lawmakers gave the charge during plenary on Tuesday, in Lokoja.

The member representing Adavi State constituency and the Chief whip of the House, Asema Baba Haruna, under motions of urgent public importance, condemned the kidnapping of scores of students at the Confluence University of Science and Technology, CUSTECH.

Osara also sympathized with the families of the kidnapped victims while noting that the abducted students were preparing for their first-semester examination before they were ambushed by the gunmen.

“It is high time we beefed up security around our schools to avert a repetition of what happened in Osara. The government should as a matter of urgency construct perimeter fencing in all our schools to stop these hoodlums from kidnapping our students. The Governor should also motivate our security agencies for their good work in combating insecurities in our dare state.” he stated.

Supporting the motion, the minority leader of the house and member representing Yagba East State Constituency, Idowu Ibikunle, decried the number of students who are still in captivity.

He hinted that a business tycoon was recently kidnapped in his constituency and had not regained his freedom as of the time of the plenary session.

His words, “We are appealing to the Kogi State Government to make stiffer laws against kidnapping. By doing this, whoever is caught in kidnapping will dance to the music”

On their parts, lawmakers representing Dekina/Biraidu, Ochidi Usman Shehu, Lokoja I, Bin-Ebaiya Shehu Sanni, Okene II, Yusuf Zakari Eneve, Ajaokuta, Abu Onoru-Oiza Jibrin, all argued that security agencies change their strategies in tackling insecurity in Kogi State.

They, however, revealed that seven more students aside from the 14 released on Monday have also been rescued from their abductors.

In his ruling, the Speaker and member representing Lokoja II Rt. Aliyu Yusuf urged the state government to support the creation of state police in a bid to address the spate of insecurities in the state.

“We want all the kidnappers to be apprehended and made to face the full wrath of the law. Kogi State can never be a breeding place for these criminal elements who are enemies of the state” he added.