Kogi State Government has announced the safe rescue of four persons abducted during a National Examination Council examination in Dekina Local Government Area, hours after their captors demanded N10 million in ransom.

The Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Femi Fanwo, disclosed that a coordinated security operation, ordered by Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo, led to the release of the two students, their school principal, and a NECO ad hoc staff member. The four had been seized on Tuesday evening from the examination centre at Government Secondary School, Olowa.

According to Fanwo, the Governor directed the State Security Adviser, Commander Jerry Omodara (retired), to coordinate a joint rescue mission involving the Nigerian Army, the Department of State Services, the Nigeria Police Force, local vigilante groups, and other security operatives. He noted that sustained pressure on the kidnappers, combined with the saturation of the forest by armed personnel, forced the criminals to abandon the victims and flee.

Fanwo confirmed that the principal, the NECO official, and the two students were all safe and currently undergoing debriefing and medical checks with security agencies. He added that operatives remain in the forest as the operation continues, stressing that anyone involved in the abduction would be pursued.

The Commissioner of Police, Naziru Kankarofi, had earlier stated that the kidnappers contacted relatives of the principal to demand the ransom. Separately, the Commanding Officer of the 21 Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Godiya Monde, explained that troops sealed suspected escape routes to prevent the abductors from moving deeper into the forest, while operatives used calls made by the kidnappers to trace their location.

Kankarofi further revealed that the examination venue was neither accredited by NECO nor approved by the Kogi State Government for public examinations. He noted that the principal, Solomon Audu, and the NECO official, Daniel Iya, had taken about 10 selected students to a remote, isolated part of the school premises to sit the exam.

Fanwo praised the Nigerian Army, the DSS, the police, and other agencies for their swift and professional response. Kankarofi added that the state government and school administrators have since agreed to assemble students in safer, approved locations for future NECO examinations to avert similar incidents.