By Heapnews
A Sokoto-based tertiary institution has disputed media reports that 18 of its students were kidnapped on their way to Oyo State, saying none of its current students were on the bus attacked in an incident in which the driver was killed and passengers were abducted.
SaharaReporters reported on Monday that suspected terrorists had abducted about 18 students of Gamji College of Health Technology, Sokoto, who were travelling in a chartered bus to their home towns in Oyo State. It cited an Oke-Ogun youth leader and other unnamed sources.
A source at the college with direct knowledge of the matter said the account was inaccurate and that no student of the college was travelling on the bus.
The vehicle was a commercial passenger bus travelling from Yabo, Sokoto State, to Oyo State, not a chartered bus arranged by the school, the source said. Passengers were abducted at Mokwa, in Niger State.
The source said one of the abducted passengers was a recent female graduate of the college who had travelled to Sokoto to collect her academic certificate. The driver killed in the attack was her uncle, the source said. Her certificate was recovered at the scene, which likely fuelled the mistaken belief that a busload of students had been attacked.
A Sokoto-based journalist independently corroborated the college’s account.
SaharaReporters had said the attack occurred within the previous 48 hours and that the driver was buried on Saturday. The college did not dispute that an attack took place, only the identity of the victims.
The incident comes days after 19 corps members were abducted in Imo State, heightening public concern over road safety.
HeapNews could not independently verify the number or identities of those abducted.