From Tony Osauzo, Benin
Two seminarians abducted at the Catholic Immaculate Conception Minor Seminary School at Ivianokpodi, Agenebode, in Etsako East Local Government Area of Edo State, have appealed to their parents and well-wishers to help secure their release.
Gunmen attacked the school on Thursday, July 10, killed a Civil Defence Corps officer attached to the school, and abducted three seminarians.
One of the abducted seminarians was later released, while the two others have remained in the kidnappers’ den ever since, even after the Edo State Commissioner of Police, Monday Agbonika, had ordered the immediate deployment of tactical teams to apprehend the abductors and rescue the seminarians unhurt.
“The operatives will not relent until those behind this reprehensible act are tracked down and made to face the full wrath of the law,” Agbonika had said.
But in a recent viral video reportedly released by the kidnappers, the two teenage seminarians were seen begging their parents and members of the public to pay for their freedom.
They were surrounded by masked gun-wielding men and seen holding dried human skulls, saying, “They kill people here. Our abductors have threatened to kill us. Please send money to them to spare our lives.”
The spokesman for the Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Rev. Fr. Peter Egielewa, while confirming that the video was real, said, “The video you see of the seminarians holding a human skull is real. We are negotiating with the kidnappers.
“But they are asking for money which we do not have, and I think it’s out of frustration they did that video,” he stated.
