There was palpable tension as gunmen stormed a hostel at the University of Calabar (UNICAL) and kidnapped three students including a female.
According to eyewitnesses, the incident happened on 29 March 2024 when gun-toting men stormed Freedom Hostel, owned by the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) at about 7:00pm and whisked the victims away to an unknown destination.
One of the witnesses, Emmanuel Effiom described the abduction as very brazen and terrifying.
Effiom said: “Most of us even thought they were security personnel. They applied force when one of the guys resisted.
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Calabar, Prof Florence Banku Obi confirmed the development.
She gave the names of the students as Ojang Precious Ebejin, a 200-level student of the Department of Medicine and Surgery, Ugwu Chukwuemeka, a 300-level student of the Department of Genetics and Biotechnology, and Damilola Dickson, a final-year student of the same Department.
The police command in Cross River, on Sunday, confirmed the abduction of three students of the University of Calabar (Unical).
The spokesperson of the command, Irene Ugbo, who gave the confirmation, said the students were abducted on Thursday night at one of the university hostels inside the campus.
Ms Ugbo, a superintendent of police, who didn’t give details of the abduction, however, said the police were working in collaboration with other agencies to rescue the students.
Students are often abducted by violent criminals essentially for ransom purposes from the families of the abductees and the government.
Although the crime is nationwide, it’s more prevalent in the northern part of the country, where several abductions have happened, including very recently in Kaduna.
Some students abducted in the past are still in the den of their kidnappers.
