Gunmen invaded Government Secondary School (GSS) in the Odo-Ekina/Opada-Olowa area of Dekina Local Government Area, Kogi State, on Tuesday evening, abducting the school principal, four students, and a National Examinations Council (NECO) ad hoc staff member in a brazen attack that unfolded as candidates sat for ongoing NECO examinations.
Some official police statements and wire reports identify the school as GSS Odo-Ekina, while community-sourced accounts refer to it as GSS Opada-Olowa.
The assault occurred at approximately 5:25 p.m. on July 14, 2026, when armed men stormed the school premises, throwing students, staff, and the wider community into panic.
Eyewitnesses said the attackers first appeared in the surrounding community, where residents were relaxing outdoors, before turning their attention to the examination hall.
Community leader Sunday Alkali described the moments before the abduction: the gunmen, apparently startled to find a large number of people outside, initially withdrew only to return shortly afterward, opening indiscriminate gunfire that sent residents fleeing in panic.
It was only once the shooting subsided that locals discovered the school itself had been the target, finding examination papers strewn across classrooms and no students or staff in sight.
Those abducted have been identified as the school principal, Mr. Nyada Daniel; NECO supervisor Mr. Solomon Audu; and four students. Residents noted that the toll could have been far worse: at the time of the attack, only a limited number of candidates were sitting the Literature-in-English paper, a comparatively low-turnout subject, unlike core papers such as English language and mathematics that typically draw much larger numbers of candidates.
The Kogi State Police Command confirmed the incident, with spokesperson ASP Saliu Oyiza Afusat stating that a combined team of police and other security agencies launched an immediate search-and-rescue operation and is actively trailing the assailants.
One of the four abducted students has since been rescued, while efforts continue to recover the remaining captives and apprehend those responsible.
Afusat added that Kogi State Commissioner of Police CP Naziru Bello Kankarofi, alongside the Brigade Commander and the state’s Security Adviser to the Governor, Commodore Jerry Omodara (Rtd.), was en route to the scene for an on-the-spot assessment.
Security forces comprising police, military personnel, vigilantes, and local hunters have since commenced extensive bush-combing operations, intelligence gathering, and surveillance to locate the kidnappers’ hideout.
According to Alkali, the kidnappers made contact with at least four families of the victims on Tuesday evening, demanding substantial ransom payments for their release, a pattern consistent with banditry-driven abductions that have plagued parts of north-central Nigeria in recent years.
The attack adds to a troubling recent run of security incidents in Kogi State. Just days earlier, on July 9, armed men attacked a vehicle conveying a corpse along the Ochadamu-Ejule Expressway, abducting the vehicle’s occupants before the body was later recovered.
The state has also seen other bandit-related violence in recent weeks, underscoring persistent security challenges in the area despite an active military and police presence.
The Kogi State Police Command has said a more detailed statement will follow as further verified information becomes available.
WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
On July 14, 2026, bandits stormed a Kogi State secondary school mid-exam, abducting the principal, a NECO official, and four students, one of whom has since been rescued.
Security forces are actively pursuing the kidnappers, but the attackers have already demanded ransom from victims’ families, a pattern typical of Nigeria’s ongoing banditry crisis.
