Amosun receives freed Turkish students, staff

Ogun State governor, Senator Ibikunle Amosun, on Wednesday morning, received the freed students and staff of the Nigerian Turkish International College (NTIC), who were kidnapped on January 13.

The victims, who were in kidnappers den for 11 days were released at about 7.46p.m on Tuesday evening.

They were said to have been found behind the school premises following an operation by the men of the Department of State Security Service (DSS) and other security agencies.

The abductees, arrived the Governor’s Office, at about 10.55a.m in a white Toyota Hiace bus with registration number LAGOS MUS 402 CK in company with of the state commissioner of police, Ahmed Iliyasu, the state Director of DSS, Kabiru Mohammed and the Brigade Commander, 35 Artillery Brigade, Alamala, Brigadier General Basil Adonkie.

The CP while presenting the victims to the governor at the Executive Chamber, said that the captors surrendered following pressure from combined security agencies.

He noted the effort of the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Ibrahim Idris, who according to him deployed of a technically-driven team of intelligence response.

Iliyasu informed that some high profile suspects were arrested in connection with the crime and that investigation is on going over the matter.

The CP said: “The operation is large scale and is ongoing. Definitely, this is not the end of the operation. The Inspector General of Police mandated me to make a very clear view; it’s an ongoing operations between us with the military and the state services and I’m assuring you sir that the history of this state and the standard of this state as a peaceful state, as a safe and secure state will definitely continue to be in the history of this nation.

“Nobody would come and destroy the peace of this state; this is not a place that kind of a thing would be orchestrated. We are resolute, we are committed to the safety and security of not only the citizens of this state but to our national duty.

“I hereby present to you the management of the school and the kidnapped victims for your reception sir. Thank you for all your support throughout this period. The huge support, the huge backbone that you have given our operation that was carried out led to the success of what we are seeing today.”

Also speaking, the Managing Director of the school, Mr. Orhan Kertim, described the incident as unfortunate, submitting that the last 11 days was a difficult one not only for the school, parents of the victims but the entire nation.

Kertim equally appreciated President Muhammadu Buhari, the IGP and other service chiefs for their resilience and effort in rescuing the victims unhurt, saying “of course, it was very difficult time for all of us; for 11 days, there were sleepless nights and we never lost our hopes.

“I also want to use this medium to thank  our parents because since that night we’ve always felt their presence next to us. They have shown great and tremendous solidarity.”

Responding on behalf of the parents, the deputy managing director, Sun Newspapers, Mr. Steve Nwosu, commended the state government and all the security agencies for their collective effort in ensuring the safe return of the victims.

Nwosu said, “I don’t have much to say than to say thank you everybody from the Directorate of the National Security, Inspector General of Police, the AIG, the commissioner and even the operatives, the field men of the Department of State Security.

“We were all in this together and we are very happy as parents that it has turned out the way it has turned out. Yes, even if anybody has any misgivings, the important thing is the result and we are very happy. On behalf of the parents and the children, we want to say a big thank you to everybody that participated in bringing back these children and we say may none of you experience what we experienced.”

Governor Amosun in his remarks said his government in collaboration with all security agencies would reviewed the incident and promised that the security arrangement in the state would be rejigged.

He reassured the determination of his administration to make the state a crime free one in the country.

The governor added precautionary measures would be taken in schools whether public and private across the state to prevent any future occurrence.

“In all our schools now, what we are putting in place is to do some kind of mapping, no matter how far they might be. Our schools must be safe but there are certain precautionary measures that we need to take now. We have gone round all our schools, boarding and those that are not boarding. We are going to rejig our security so that Ogun State will not be a comfort zone for all these criminals.

“Let me assure them that they will pay dearly for this because this is Ogun State, we don’t allow criminals to operate here. Ogun State will not be comfort zone, we will not allow them to operate. So, I have news for them, we will go after them, we will hunt them down so that it would serve as deterrent. We are ready, yes, they would want to dare us and we will continue to be ready for them.

“I don’t want people to go away with the feeling that maybe we are not safe in Ogun State. No, we are. But we will put all necessary measures in place to continue to show that we are peaceful people and this is a very safe environment. We are the industrial capital of Nigeria; there is no state that has the number of industries we have. We have the highest number of industries. So, if some people now want to spoil that name or give us bad name, we will not allow it. The truth is that as government, as security operatives, we need to get it right.

“I know that they must have gone through some traumatic time but we thank God that finally you are here with us with your family safely. We knew where you were within 24 hours of your abduction but the challenge we had was that we were very mindful of your safety, that was why we did not storm the place. So, I want you to just take it as one of those things and there should be lesson for us as government, all our entrepreneurs, people that have schools, we need to collaborate with government and allow more work relation with government,” he said further.